At All Costs
by Sparrow79
Summary: When an enemy of the social elite takes over Japan, the Host Club is forced to flee the country. But in a tragic accident, Haruhi Fujioka is left behind. Where is their friend? Will they find her? Is she even alive? No pairings.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I known absolutely nothing. It all goes to Miss. Author-lady-whose-name-escapes-me-but-i-will-know-later. This is just me beng bored on a rainy summer's day

Prologue

Her heart was beating mercilessly in her chest, and a wild panic was gripping her very soul. She could feel it tearing. Rip, shred, scratch, maul. She tried to fight it off. She was strong; she wouldn't let this beat her, but she was so small and so weak and so tired. She crumpled to the ground. Who knows? Would it be so terrible to let it take her? To give up and break? To let it win? To admit defeat and forget the goal, the dream? Forget. Was it worth it to fight for something that she had already forgotten? That she no longer knew of or had? She didn't know. She was in such pain, and death looked so comfortable, so peaceful…She wouldn't be the first to drop her fists and spread her arms wide and say "Here! Take me, I'm done! I want it to end!". She wouldn't be the last either, and she knew that there were people waiting for her on the other side. She could be safe and warm and happy. She could leave this cold, searing, evil world behind and join hands with those who had already passed. She could see them now, smiling at her, waiting with arms wide open. She cautiously, slowly began to stretch her hand, but she felt a sharp tug in her heart. No…this wasn't right.

Then she saw them. Six boys, not yet men standing at the side opposite of the paradise. They called to her desperately, screaming a name that sounded so familiar and so right even though she couldn't remember it. They stretched out their hands as far as they could go, and she was terrified that one of them would stretch too far and tumble off of the dais on which they were standing. She knew what she would have to do if she wanted to return to them. She would have to get off the ground. She would have to stand up and face the monster before her and battle it. And win. There would be no other way if she wanted to stand on that side and escape the dark abyss she was drowning in. She glanced toward the other side, the one she could join with absolutely no effort. It would be so easy…She wrapped her hands around her head to give her some sort of protection from the blow that she knew was coming, but she didn't stand up. What was the point?

"HARUHI!"

At that sound, she instinctively rolled away, dodging the monster's blow. It took another step towards her, and she got to her feet and looked defiantly into his eyes. Inside, however, she was confused. Wasn't that what she wanted? Death? He raised his arm again, ready to kill her, and she leapt away and, to her surprise and horror, kicked him in the shins. Why was she fighting back? She felt her fear rise to a peak as the monster glared at her in anger, but something refused to let her back down. Something refused to let her give up. Why wouldn't it let her die?

"Because they changed you…" a voice said inside her head

She growled and rolled her eyes. Damn rich bastards, she thought as she ducked another offensive blow to the head.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: None of this is mine. It all belongs to that one awesome lady who wrote the manga and all the people that will sue me if I claim otherwise.

AN: This story was inspired by the movie Anastasia, so anything you recognize belongs to those people too. Don't worry, the story has a few similarities to the movie, but not too many. You won't be bored :)

Chapter One

_There was a time when we lived in an enchanted world full of elegant palaces and parties. The year was two thousand and six, and the most prestigious and richest families of Japan were the rulers of the world..._

"Haruhiii!" the twins called in unison.

Haruhi spun around when she heard her name and saw six men standing together in the corner of the room. She grinned at them and waved. She had to admit, they had outdone themselves tonight. The girls they served at the Host Club would be beside themselves if they could see the objects of their affections now. Hikaru and Kaoru, with their bright red hair and identical features, were dressed in the same elegant attire that the rest of the club was wearing, and they leaned back to back smirking at her. Hunny, of course, looked as adorable as ever, but it did look rather odd for him to be holding a wine glass with his Lolita appearance. Mori stood behind the 18 year old boy, giving her a small smile. Kyouya, whose father was hosting the party, was for once devoid of his notebook and laptop and pushed his glass up with his finger, letting the glare obscure his eyes. Haruhi rolled hers. He thought he was oh-so mysterious and cool. Tamaki stood next to him, wearing a white tuxedo that instead of giving a washed out appearance, made him look almost angelic when coupled with his pale skin and blond hair. His blue eyes found hers, and she noticed a slight red color making its way up his face. She shrugged. Who knew what that was about. As she got closer, she heard tidbits of their conversation

"I have to say, you two did a rather nice job," Kyouya said, nodding approvingly at her appearance.

Haruhi looked down at her outfit. She had been about ready to murder the twins when she awoke to find them at her door that morning. However, she didn't mind her appearance. They had actually managed to refrain from making her look like a puffed up doll for once. She had been dressed in a dark magenta dress that had spaghetti straps and a square neck that rested about 4 inches from her collarbone. The bodice hugged her curves, but it flared out into a loose skirt that reached the knee and swished when she walked. Simple, yet elegant. While she did like it, she had at first protested at wearing women's clothing. The twins had simply rolled their eyes.

"Kyouya-senpai has already looked into it. Very few of the customers will be attending the party," Kaoru had said in exasperation.

"Besides, who in the world would expect you to show up as a girl?" And it was those words that were the cause of her wardrobe tonight.

She heard the twins sigh. "If only we could have forced her into the wig," Hikaru lamented.

"But she wouldn't have it," Kaoru followed.

"It's itchy," Haruhi said, reaching the group. "Besides," she glared, "you're lucky that you got this far. Who do you think you are, ringing my doorbell that early on a Saturday morning?"

Kyouya raised an eyebrow. "I personally prefer the short hair," he told the twins.

"Look at my little girl!" Tamaki cried with a dreamy face. He flourished his hands and looked ready to leap at Haruhi and envelope her in one of his crushing, dramatic hugs before his raven-haired friend grabbed the back of his jacket.

"Not here," Kyouya threatened, his glasses reflecting the light. "Are you trying to embarrass me?"

Tamaki blubbered, "B-but, mother!"

A passing girl looked at the group. "Mother?"

A dark look passed over the Shadow King's face, and he placed a strained smile on his face that came out more like a grimace. "Say that again, _Daddy_," he hissed, his eyes glaring fiercely, "and you will sleep on the couch for the rest of the month."

The twins ran up to the girl and threw out their arms out as though they were making a human fence. "Move along, nothing to see here! Please, my dear, don't taint your eyes with such a pathetic display of homosexuality. "

"Homosexuality!" Tamaki screeched in a high-pitched voice, gripping the sides of his face.

Haruhi looked at the twins blankly. "Ever heard of the phrase 'the pot calling the kettle black'?"

Hikaru threw and arm around her shoulders. "My dear Haruhi, please don't insult us with such talk."

"Our brand is much more glorious and intriguing than that display," Kaoru grinned, throwing his arm around her other shoulder. "If they are going to do it, the least they could do is to do it properly."

"Maybe we should teach them!" they said together, cackling like madmen.

Suddenly the Shadow King appeared behind the twins, casting a dark shadow on the trio. The twins looked up in terror before he seized them by their collars. "Do pardon us, madam," he said politely before giving her a quick smile, which made the girl blush. As she scurried away fanning herself, he dropped the twins, and they landed on the ground. Kyouya straightened and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Cleanup duty. The rest of the month."

"Oh, senpai, please forgive us!" Kaoru cried mockingly. The doppelgangers got on their knees and crawled to his feet.

"We're good children, we really are! We'll be better, promise!"

Kyouya aimed a kick to Hikaru's side, but the ginger scrambled away. "Shut your mouth."

The two redheads grasped each other's hands and pulled, using each other's weight to lift themselves off the ground. Together they glared at the unconcerned Kyouya. "Evil Overlord," the growled.

"And don't you forget it," the sovereign in question smirked. Haruhi rolled her eyes at their antics, as Kyouya glanced at his watch. She saw the boy look exasperatedly at the blonde sulking in a chair. "Tamaki, stop growing mushrooms before you embarrass me any more. There's only so much time before the dancing starts. Unless you forgot the surprise…"

"Surprise?" Haruhi asked as Tamaki leapt to his feet.

"Ah, yes!" the blonde cried grasping his chest and looking dreamily up at the heavens. "My beautiful daughter, you really are in for a treat tonight! Daddy has a surprise for yooooou!"

"Erm, milord," the twins bluntly interrupted, "we designed it."

"Yeah, we all helped," Hunny added.

"Ah, yes! But it was my idea!"

"Actually," Kyouya said over the rim of his wine glass, "I believe that the idea was mine. You wanted to give her a small country. She doesn't even have a passport."

"Idiot."

Haruhi grit her teeth in frustration. "What are you all talking about?" she asked, starting to get annoyed.

Tamaki broke away from the argument to grin at her. "You will see, darling, Daughter! Let me just-" He reached into his pocket, and his eyes grew wide. "Erm." He checked the other one. "Oh, no," he muttered before going into panic-mode. He started frantically searching. "I had it, I swear!"

The twins' jaws dropped. "You lost it?" they cried angrily.

"You idiot," Hikaru said, throwing his arms in the air, "do you know how long we spent on that?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't lose it, I promise, I have it somewhere!" The President started to tear up.

"Maybe you dropped it, Tama-chan." Honey sweetly suggested.

"NOOOOO!"

Kyouya closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Calm down already!" he growled. "_I _have it." He pulled a small velvet box out of one of his deep pockets. Haruhi's eyes widened at the sight of it.

"Kyouya! You stole it!" Tamaki shrieked.

Kyouya gently handed it to Haruhi. "As always, your idiocy astounds me. You gave it to me yesterday to keep it safe, you moron. I have no need for something like this."

Haruhi twisted the box around in her fingers, looking at it from all angles. "What is this?"

"Can't you remember what happened exactly a year ago today, Haru-chan?" Honey asked, looking up at her with a cherubic smile.

"Erm-"

Hikaru cleared his throat. "If I remember correctly,"

Kaoru said, "A certain small,"

"Insignificant,"

"Ugly,"

"Little gay man accidentally stumbled into the 3rd Music Room,"

"And being the very clumsy person she was, broke an antique vase worth 8 million yen."

Haruhi laughed. "Has it really been that long?" She looked down at the velvet box in confusion. "But that doesn't explain this."

Tamaki gently removed the box from her grasp and with long, elegant fingers, opened it. Haruhi gasped. Inside was a beautiful, expensive looking necklace. The gold chain looked very fine, yet sturdy also, and hanging from it was a vase shaped pendant. It had been painted blue, and the exquisite detail showed every dip and decoration of the original one that had shattered 365 days ago. Haruhi covered her mouth, and tears pricked her eyes. "Oh, my gosh."

The twins reached into the box, each taking hold of one end of the gold chain. They walked towards her, and separated, walking around her on either side and draping the jewelry on her neck. Behind them, Mori fasted the chain with gentle fingers that tickled the back of her neck. In front of her, Tamaki grinned wildly. "Look at her! She's speechless."

Haruhi touched the pendant. It was absolutely stunning. She felt her the blood rush to her cheeks. "I can't believe that you guys would do this for me."

"That's not all," Kyouya said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a long, gold object and handed it to the stunned girl. It was a elegant, old fashioned key. "This key unlocks the Third Music Room. Now that you are an official host, no longer bound by debt, we thought that you ought to have one."

Hikaru nodded. "We've all got one, after all," he said, pulling out his. It was identical to the on she now held in her hand

"Consider this your anniversary present," Kaoru said, a bright smile on his face.

Haruhi looked at each of the six boys in front of her. It was incredible just how close they had gotten in such a short time. She, for the first time, had friends. No…a _family. _Haruhi felt a lump grow in her throat. These boys were…her family. Her throat started to burn, but she pushed down the choking feeling. She grinned at the boys, her smile reaching her eyes. "Thank you! Thank you all so much!"

Her boys grinned back at her. "You deserve it," said Mori, in his deep, seldom used voice.

At that moment, there was a swell of violin music. Haruhi turned to see that the center of the room had been cleared, and a few couples were walking out onto the floor, holding hands.

Tamaki grinned down at her and bowed. "May I have this dance, milady?" he asked smoothly. Haruhi reached out her hand, but at the last second it was snatched by another, much shorter blonde.

"Yay, Haru-chan!" Hunny cried as the President gaped after them. Haruhi turned her head as she was being dragged away to see Tamaki spluttering at having his daughter stolen. The twins had grabbed hold of his waist to subdue him, and it looked like Kyouya and Mori were simply trying to pretend like they didn't know the blonde idiot. Haruhi giggled at their antics and turned her attention to the third year before her.

Hunny, thank God, was much gentler in his dancing than the last time they had danced at the Ouran festival. He refrained from throwing her around, and she was able to be transported to Mori-senpai with very little dizziness. _He probably has to act a bit more dignified when at a formal party…_Haruhi mused as Mori spun her around and she glided into Kaoru's waiting arms.

"Enjoying yourself, Haruhi?" her friend asked.

She smiled her natural smile. "It's not bad. It's a lot to take in though." She gazed around at the extravagant room and all the people in it. She was almost positive that some of the formal wear was worth more than all the money she had ever had put together, and she knew for a fact that the wine alone was more expensive that every object in her house combined. She felt eyes of disdain burning a hole in her back. Several of the patrons were looking at her and Kaoru. She laughed nervously, trying to ignore them and act natural. "Kyouya-senpai's family doesn't do anything half way, does it?"

Kaoru laughed. "Have you ever known him to?" he asked with a grin. He noticed her nervousness and turned to look in the direction of her jittery gaze. "Oh." He leaned in and lowered his voice. "Don't worry about them. They have no idea that you're a commoner," he whispered in her ear.

"Then why are they all looking at me like that?" she hissed in response. She raised her eyebrows at one of the women, who blushed at being caught and turned away.

Kaoru gently twirled her in another direction, away from the woman. "It's not just you. It's all of us from the club."

Haruhi looked around. Now that he mentioned it, it seemed like a lot of the stares were directed toward Kaoru. In face, he was right, she realized as she found every Host Club member and the stares that followed them. "Why?"

Kaoru shrugged. "We're different from the rest of them, which reminds me!" He bent closer and his breath tickled her ear. "I'm supposed to let you know that once the music stops, we're all meeting by the food table."

Haruhi's brow furrowed. "Okay?" she said confused.

Kaoru noted her confusion. "That's when and where Ootori-san will present Kyouya-senpai and his siblings and give his speech." Kaoru explained. He twirled her around and released her hands, and she was caught by his brother.

"It's just something we do for each other at all these kinds of parties," Hikaru continued for his twin. "Moral support and all that kind of stuff. It's easier to face the whispers when we can see each other. It helps." He suddenly laughed. "Not that senpai would ever admit that!"

Haruhi smiled in response, but inside, she was very curious. What kind of whispers did they have to face? And were they really so hurtful that the club had devised a way to battle against them? Now that she thought about it though, it made sense. She had never thought about all the responsibilities that the Hosts had to uphold thanks to their social statuses. Even though they were still naïve and still lived in their own little worlds, their lives were surprisingly strict. She remembered the sharp crack she had heard during the Ouran Festival. Kyouya's father had hit him simply for being in the Host Club, something that might not have been as dignified as he'd liked. And then there was Tamaki, who was hated and scorned for his birth, something that he couldn't even control. Hunny, who had been forced to steer away from everything that made him _him _for years until he'd finally rebelled. He was an outcast in his family due to his likes and beliefs, and now they barely bothered with him. Haruhi knew that the same was true for Mori's family. Mori-senpai never said much of anything at all, but Haruhi knew that, with the exception of Hunny-senpai, family didn't play much of a role in his life. The twins, however, didn't seem to have to deal with any expectations, but that was the just as harmful as having too many. They had been neglected by their parents their whole lives; their own mother was unable to tell them apart. They had been separated from their family, and during that time, they had gotten so close that nobody could penetrate their walls and enter their world. _Well, _Haruhi thought, _almost nobody. _Even so, they all had quite colorful pasts that the social elite must not be used to. Even Kyouya, who could charm anybody to do his bidding and seemed to fit most in this world, was quite an oddity.

As she thought about these things, she was passed from Hikaru on to Kyouya and then on to Tamaki. Those dances only lasted for a few moments though, for Kyouya had been summoned by his father and as Tamaki enthusiastically twirled her around the dance floor, the music decrescendoed to a halt, and the sound of a spoon ringing against a glass echoed around the ball room. At the top of a magnificent stair case, Yoshio Ootori was standing. At the bottom, his four children were standing in a single line, all perfectly straight and dignified.

Haruhi felt somebody grab her hand. "Come on," Tamaki whispered, and they began to make their way through the crowd. They were soon joined by the rest of the club as the crowd began to gather by the staircase, giving the family a wide berth. As they wove between the partygoers, Haruhi heard bits and pieces of conversation and whispering.

"What lovely children! The father must be so proud."

"Miss Fuyumi-san is radiant as ever. Such a shame her husband couldn't attend…"

"…the third son, I supposed. There really isn't much purpose for him is there? I wonder what he is supposed to do…"

"He will probably work under his brothers. But he will always be dependent on them."

"Burden on the family…"

Haruhi whirled around and opened her mouth, but Mori took hold of her shoulder. She looked up at her fellow club member, and he shook his head. "I know," he said, "but you'll only get him into trouble." But Haruhi could see deep irritation in his eyes. Indeed, the entire club was gritting its teeth.

Kyouya looked relieved when they reached the front. Haruhi noticed the raven-haired teen's jaw loosed and his fists unclench. She wished that she could see his eyes though, which were now hiding behind the glare from his glasses. _He must be doing that on purpose. _The signs were barely perceptible and carefully hidden, but they were still there. Kyouya was nervous, she realized. The richest adults in Japan must be really different from the students for Ouran High School for calculating, calm, never fearing Kyouya to be intimidated.

"Thank you all for attending tonight's celebration," Ootori said in a clear, refined drawl. "The Fiftieth Anniversary of the medical division of the Ootori group is such an important date for all of us in the company, and I am honored that you are here to share in our happiness. I would like to begin with a toast," he lifted his wineglass, but Ootori's next words were interrupted by a long BANG!

Every head in the vicinity turned towards the back of the room, where the large double doors had burst open. Standing on the threshold were two dark, hooded figures. Gasps and mutters exploded around the room as the figures strode in. The crowd parted like the Red Sea, allowing them access. Haruhi felt an unease in her stomach. What was going on? One of the figures removed his hood to reveal a man with long, white-blonde hair that was tied in a ponytail at the base of his neck. He had a clean shaven face and aristocratic features, but his clothing was threadbare and ragged, practically falling apart. The man behind him kept his hood up, obscuring his face.

The Host Club boys gasped in recognition. "Rasputin," Tamaki muttered darkly.

Haruhi looked up. She had never heard Tamaki say something with such _disgust. _She raised an eyebrow, but he just shook his head. She turned back to watch the men continue their advance more confused than ever. A woman dropped her glass and the blonde man, Rasputin, tread on it, making a shrill crunching noise.

Almost as if that crunch had brought him to life, Tamaki seemed to steel himself and ran towards Kyouya. All of his siblings had evacuated the front of the room, but the third son had forced himself to maintain his ground. The rest of the club followed Tamaki and stood around their friend. Kyouya turned his head to look at them in surprise before returning his attention the advancing men.

At the very top of the stairs, Yoshio Ootori slowly placed his wine glass on a tray and began to descend, a cold, unforgiving aura billowing off of him.

"Mr. Ootori," Rasputin said in a clear, light tone. Haruhi felt Kyouya stiffen next to her. Rasputin bowed with a flourish. "How wonderful to see you again…"

Ootori sneered at the man. "How dare you come here? You were banished from the country, lest you forgot? Leave at once!"

Rasputin laughed, and Haruhi shivered at the sound. "Me?" the man fake mock whimpered, "But I am your confidant. Your trusted advisor." He glared with coal black eyes. "Lest you forgot."

"Ha! Confidant. You are a traitor. Get out!" Ootori yelled.

"My, my, my…" Rasputin chuckled. His eyes found the eldest three Ootori children, and Ootori's façade slipped for a moment as his eyes widened. He quickly regained the mask though as the blonde man turned his attention back to him. "Quite a party, sir. Very lovely, and of course, fifty years of profit is nothing to sneer at. Except, of course, when it is made off of my sweat, and I am not even invited to the celebration." He sighed. "You've got a lot of nerve, Yoshio-kun." He turned his gaze to the third son and the group of friends that flanked him. He smiled at them predatorily, encouraging Hikaru to place himself in front of Haruhi as though to hide her from view. It was clear by the look on his face that he had seen her. However, the mask slipped into an expression of confusion once he really looked at her. "A commoner?" He snapped his fingers, and the silent, hooded man next to him dashed forward faster than any of the club had ever seen, pushed Hikaru aside, and seized Haruhi's wrist.

"Hey!" Tamaki yelled, and he dove for her, only to fall on the ground as the man dragged the girl into no man's land. Haruhi's stomach rolled with fear, and she tried to pull away, but the man's grip was too strong, and all her struggling was doing nothing.

Haruhi!" Tamaki yelled in desperation. She could hear the Host Club debating what to do behind her and the crowd gasping and muttering. Rasputin stepped closer to her until he was inches from her face. She leaned back as far as the hooded man allowed her to. "Now what is a pretty little commoner doing in a place like this?" he leered. She didn't respond, but she gathered all of her courage to glare at the man. She would NOT let herself be intimidated by this man. "Come on, honey, answer me…" he cooed, touching her face. She raised her free arm and slapped him. There was a collective intake of breath around the room. Rasputin stumbled backward from the force of it. He held up a hand to his red cheek and barred his teeth at her "Why, you-" he raised a fist, and Haruhi closed her eyes and flinched, but the blow never came. She opened her eyes in surprise to see Hunny holding the man's fist in his palm. There were a few moments of intense silence before Hunny let the man go and kicked him in the stomach. Rasputin fell into an ungraceful heap on the floor with an "Omph!".

"You don't threaten my friends," the third year growled in a quiet, menacing voice that Haruhi had only heard a few times before. Kyouya and Kaoru were standing next to Hunny, glaring down at the man. Haruhi looked to see Hikaru and Tamaki standing beside her. The hooded man tightened his grip on her wrist, and Haruhi could feel the bruises blossoming on her skin. She cried out and saw another hand appear out of nowhere and seize the hooded man's free hand.

"Let her go," Mori rumbled. The hooded man ignored him, and Mori squeezed. There was a cracking noise, and Haruhi heard the man grunt in sudden pain.

"Let us put in terms that a lowlife piece of vermin like yourself can understand," Hikaru said in a biting tone. "Our friend here is the national kendo champion. He's six foot three, and he can squash you like the bug you are in ten seconds flat. You really don't want to mess with him."

Tamaki stepped forward. He looked murderous. "As long as you are holding this friends hand," he gestured to Haruhi. He gestured toward Mori, "_that _friend will hold on to your hand. And let me assure you, you do _not _want him to put all of his strength into this game of yours. You _will_ lose."

There was a moment of hesitation where Mori and the shadowed man looked at each other. Haruhi held her breath. The room was completely silent. The man squeezed her wrist again painfully before releasing her. Mori released the other man's arm, and the Club stepped back, surrounding Haruhi protectively. Haruhi clutched her wrist, which was starting to swell.

Ootori cleared his throat. "That's enough. Security, please remove this man" With that, he turned his back and began to ascend the stairs.

"Fool!" Rasputin clambered to his feet. His hair was tumbled now, and he was panting heavily. He looked insane. "You overestimate your power, Ootori! All of you!" he cried to the room at large. He shook his fist. "Mark my words! You and your family and friends will die before the month is up! Especially you." He pointed at Haruhi, whose eyes widened in fear. "You will die with all of them, traitor! You and your little group of friends!" He barred his teeth. "I will hunt you down and kill you, and you will die slowly for your betrayal." He started laughing a manic laugh that echoed throughout the ballroom. Roll after roll of it came, and Haruhi felt her heart freeze in her chest at his words.

The Ootori police rushed out from every door during Rasputin's speech. They surrounded the pair of men. "You are under arrest!"

Rasputin winked at Ootori. "Au revoir," he said before taking something out of his pocket.

"Look out!" Haruhi cried before Mori and Hunny grabbed their friends sleeves and pulled them out of the way. Rasputin threw the object against the ground, and the area around them was shrouded in a black smoke, completely covering the two men. There was a lot of clattering and noise, and by the time the smoke cleared, the men were gone. It was only a few seconds before a shrill shriek of "He's gone!" split the air. Suddenly, the entire hall erupted into screams. The guests panicked, running every which way and slamming into each other. Haruhi could hear the sound of shattering glass as waiters dropped the wine trays and the echoing clangs of falling musical instruments added to the tumult. Haruhi felt somebody bump into her and she fell to the ground before Hikaru pulled her up to her feet from her armpits.

"Grab somebody!" Kyouya said, taking hold of Haruhi's hand. The rest of the club joined hands and they fought their way through the crowd .

Mr. Ootori was bellowing orders from the stairs. "Search the hotel! I want every guest searched and accounted for!" The Ootori secret police started rounding up the guests, trying to calm them down and place them in a line.

"Kyouya-sama!"

Kyouya spun around. "Tachibana!" The body guard roughly grabbed Kyouya by the forearm and started to pull him towards a set of doors.

"We need to get you and your friends to a secure area," Tachibana said as Kyouya's other two guards sprang up on either side of the group of friends and began to guide them.

"What just happened?" Haruhi breathed as they reached the doors. The only response was the loud boom of the double doors closing behind her.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Hatori Bisco, I believe her name is. She and all the people who will sue me if I claim otherwise, own this.

Date: Jun 22

AN: Tojiwara is an imaginary country. I made it up. And thank you so much to everybody who reviewed and looked at the story! All the hits and reviews made me very happy :)

Chapter Two

"Here," Hikaru placed a cup of coffee by her. "It's not great but…" he shrugged and passed cups to all the other club members.

"Thanks, Hikaru," she said as Tachinbana gently examined her wrist. It was slightly swollen and adorned with fingerprint shaped bruises, but at least it didn't hurt. "It's fine, honestly," she told the body guard with a smile

He carefully prodded the purple flesh. "It seems you are correct, but it wise to apply ice to it, Fujioka-san," he said, standing

"You don't-" she protested, but Tachibana had already left the room. "Have to," she weakly finished.

"Ne, just let the man do his job, Haruhi," Hikaru inserted his two cents. He sat down next the her. "It can't hurt."

She purposely ignored him as Kaoru took a sip of his coffee. The younger of the green eyed boys gagged a bit before forcing himself to swallow it, and he pushed the cup away from him with two index fingers. "Why is this kind so awful?" he questioned, making a face.

Haruhi sighed and raised the cup to her lips. "Commoner's coffee doesn't always taste the same you know. This is probably a lower grade than the kind I buy for you guys." She calmly drank hers, ignoring the bitter taste. What she needed right now was its calming warmth.

"It's from the employee's lounge," Kyouya chimed in. His computer had resurfaced, and his fingers were clacking all over the keyboard. "It's not going to be anything wonderful," he said, not moving his eyes from the screen.

Tachinbana and the other two body guards had led the Host Club through the main parts of the hotel and down a secret staircase that led to the servants quarters. They were currently in a cramped linen room that the hotel maids often used to play poker and gossip in during their free time. There was a small table in the back, where Kyouya, Haruhi, and the twins sat. Hunny was sitting on a large pile of towels, and Mori was leaning against the cinderblock wall. Tamaki, in the meantime, was trying and failing to pace in the limited amount of space. There wasn't much room to walk back and forth, and he so far had only succeeded in knocking over a pile of sheets.

Tachibana returned holding a plastic bag filled with ice chunks. He bowed and handed it to her. "Here you are, Fujioka-san."

Haruhi blushed, embarrassed at the formal treatment. "Thank you."

"Kyouya-sama, we will guard the door and alert you when the area is clear," he said, bowing at his master.

Kyouya nodded. "Very well." The bodyguard left the room, and the door shut with a light echo. Kyouya went back to his computer, and the room was quiet for a few moments. Haruhi stared into her coffee cup. Tonight had been so overwhelming. "_You and your family and your friends will die before the month is up!" _She shuddered, remembering the threat. _Who were those men? _she wondered. She hadn't recognized the blonde one, the one called Rasputin. It was obvious, however, that Kyouya's father knew him well. Well enough to be visibly intimidated by the man. The rest of the hosts seemed to know the man too. In fact, almost the entire room seemed to be aware of who Rasputin was. And they were all worried at his reappearance. _Almost as though they had seen a ghost…_

"Well," Kyouya said interrupting her musings, "they're not anywhere in the building."

"Eh? How do you know, mon ami?" Tamaki asked, pausing his pacing.

The raven haired teenager spun his computer around so that it was visible to everyone in the room. Haruhi saw additional, much tinier screens on the display. They showed the ballroom, the kitchen, and many other rooms in the hotel. Almost every single one had at least one member of the Ootori Black Onion Squad inspecting it. It seemed that the ballroom had been cleared out, and the guests had been sent home. Maids and menservants were now cleaning up the multitude of broken decorations, and Haruhi could see Kyouya's father speaking to a group of men. They seemed to be inspecting the area where Rasputin and the cloaked man had disappeared. The resolution was blurry, but she could tell that the men were very confused.

Kyouya minimized the window and pulled up another. This one showed a blueprint of the hotel. "Look here," he said, pointing to a small square in the ballroom with his pen. The club gathered around it.

"A trap door!" Hunny gasped.

"Correct, Hunny-senpai," Kyouya nodded, returning to the window that had the security cameras. Haruhi rose an eyebrow at that image. She wasn't quite sure that that was something that the Shadow King was supposed to have access to, but she didn't voice that opinion out loud. Considering the enormity of what had occurred that night, a bit of harmless hacking seemed miniscule.

"So," Hikaru muttered, "they escaped through a trap door." He raised an elbow to the table and rested his head in his palm. Cocking his head, he said, "What I'm curious to know why there's one there."

"And how they knew it was there," Haruhi added. She shivered. It was cold in the basements, and she was hardly dressed for such temperatures. The ice bag didn't help matters. Tamaki noticed her discomfort and slid out of his jacket and placed it on her shoulders. She grinned at him and slid her thins arms into the armholes. "Thank you, senpai."

Tamaki blushed at the sight of the girl in his jacket. He clutched his face with both hands. "Daughter is so cuuuuuuuute!" he cried, throwing his arms around the girl.

Haruhi put her hand in his face, keeping it away from rubbing against her cheek. "No, you just ruined it."

"Aw, Haruhiiii!"

"Will you please shut up for five seconds?" Kyouya said in an annoyed tone. Tamaki flinched, and Haruhi looked over to see him dialing a number onto his phone. He raised it to his ear, and the room went into a respectful (fearful) silence. "Father, the blueprints show that there is a trapdoor beneath the tile on which the intruders stood…Yes, sir, I am quite sure…Of course, thank you." He disconnected the call with a beep. "Well, that's taken care of." He turned his attention to his notebook. "In answer to your question, Hikaru, when Her Majesty the queen visited Japan a few years ago, she stayed in this very hotel. The acrobat team, Furaingusaru, were hired to perform for her entertainment, and the trap door was installed for their various stunts. That was the reason it was installed. However," the note book was closed with a snap, "I'm afraid that I don't have an answer to your question, Haruhi. I have no idea how Rasputin knew of its existence." The entire club stared at him in shock. Kyouya looked around in confusion. "What?"

Kaoru had an expression akin to having received the greatest shock in his life. "You…you don't know? Kyouya Ootori doesn't know something?"

Annoyed, Kyouya pushed his glasses up his nose with a long middle finger. "Close your mouth, Tamaki, you look even more moronic than usual." Tamaki snapped his jaw closed. "After Rasputin's banishment, there are no records of him. No documents, no paper trail. It was believed that he had simply died, but as we have seen tonight, that is clearly not the case. All I know is that prior to the banishment, he had no connections to either the hotel or the Furaingusaru team."

Haruhi's brow furrowed. She raised her hand, getting the room's attention. "Hang on, I'm confused. Who isRasputin?"

Hunny's sweet voice reached her. "Eh? You mean you don't know, Haru-chan?"

"It's only the biggest medical scandal in Japanese history," the twins said on either side of her. "Even Tono knows about it, and he's clueless about everything!"

Haruhi could feel a head ache coming on. She glared at them as Tamaki let out a shriek and began his tirade. "Clueless! How dare you speak so rudely about your father? Haven't you learned to respect your elders? GROUNDED. You're soooooo groundeeeed!"

Kyouya closed his laptop with a click, ignoring Tamaki. "In fairness, the affair was carefully concealed from the lower classes. It isn't so unusual for you to be unaware."

"Well, thanks for that," she said sarcastically. "Now, who is he?"

Tamaki had settled down enough to stop his screeching and leaned against the table. "It's a terrible story," he said with a sigh. Haruhi jumped at the sudden mood change. "You're not going to like it," he told her seriously. Hikaru and Kaoru nodded.

Haruhi rolled her eyes. This was getting ridiculous. "It doesn't matter," she protested. "Somebody just threatened to _kill _us."

"Which was very interesting," Kyouya said. "That's generally not his style." He looked Haruhi in the eye. "He started out not unlike you, about fifteen years ago," he said softly. "A scholarship student at Ouran High School. Intelligent, top of the class, dirt poor." Haruhi felt a prick of irritation. He continued, seeming not to notice the twitch in her left eye. "But he was smart and he played his cards right. Right after Ouran, he went to medical school and became a rising figure in the medical research field. You have, of course, heard of Beaire, Zenadrin, and Acetyzoraphin? He was the one that discovered them all."

Haruhi's eyes widened. Those were some of the largest, most essential and groundbreaking medicines of the last few decades. "That's amazing," she said admiringly.

"It was," Hunny chimed in. "It wasn't long before Kyou-chan's father added him into his ranks. He was a prodigy!" Mori nodded, solemnly.

"He even rose to the head of the advisory board," Kyouya said. "Highly unusual for somebody that wasn't high up in the elite business world. But he did come from Ouran, so despite his status, he fit in nicely."

Hikaru's and Kaoru's eyes got really dark, and their lips curled in disgust. "Oh, yeah, he fit in _really _nicely. Until they found out about his little _hobby._"

Haruhi's brow furrowed. "What hobby?"

"He-" Tamaki violently shivered, "experimented on people."

"Don't you usually have to? You can't market a product without making sure that it's safe or effective."

Tamaki shook his head. "But he didn't just do _that _kind of experimenting! He did-" another shiver, "_awful _experimenting."

"He's referring to the Mengele brand of experimentation," Kyouya explained, seeing her puzzled look.

Haruhi gasped in recognition of the name. "You don't mean…" She closed her eyes in horror, remembering her lessons on World War II. The cruel scientist that performed ghastly experiments on prisoners. Strange and unusual experiments that were basically huge torture sessions for the victims to see just how far the human body could go. Experiments on twins, freezing, the effects of chemicals and other awful, awful things…She felt herself start to shake, and Tamaki wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She opened her eyes, but she didn't push him off because for once he wasn't being flirtatious and dramatic. This was the gesture of a friend comforting one who had heard something terribly distressing.

Kyouya nodded solemnly. "They were…particularly cruel."

Hunny shuddered and had tears in his eyes. "He took his patients, and he'd hurt them. Really, really badly. A lot of them died."

"That's disgusting." Her voice was hoarse. "How could he get away with it?"

Tamaki spoke up. "After a time, Ootori-san noticed a large amount of patients either disappearing or dying. He launched a full investigation, and Rasputin was found out. Once the Ootori group realized what had happened, he was immediately fired. But…" he trailed off, looking at his best friend uncertainly.

Kyouya sighed. "But my father didn't want the information to become public," he said bluntly. His coal-black eyes bore into Haruhi's. He spoke quickly and in a hollow tone, as though trying to get the information out as fast as possible and to keep it from touching him. "He didn't want the scandal that a large legal trial would bring about. So he and a number of other families worked to keep the affair a secret."

"They removed all of his money and power," Kaoru said. "They revoked his licensing and all his degrees and awards. After they had done all of that, Ootori-san got government approval to permanently eject him from the country."

"They dropped him in some country in Africa," Hikaru said, "and he hasn't been heard from since."

"Until now," Haruhi whispered. It was revolting. How could a man do that? How could somebody do something so inhumane and to his own people! He was like a serial killer, picking his victims, killing and torturing them one by one, and without remorse! And Kyouya's family…She looked at the second year. "Your father covered it up?" she asked sharply.

Kyouya didn't visibly react to her rudeness. "To have allowed the scandal to go public," he calmly replied, "would have meant the ruin of the company. Nobody would ever allow one of our hospitals to treat them ever again."

Haruhi shook her head. People had died! "What did they tell the patients families?" she cried, outraged. "Did they lie to them too?"

Her friend just nodded.

Haruhi leaned back in her seat, staring at the ceiling. It was all disgusting to her. All of it, the torture, the murders, the cover up, the lies…She remembered what he had said. "_You overestimate your power! All of you!" _She straightened up. "And now he is back, looking for revenge," she bluntly stated.

Hikaru snorted. "Whatever. You shouldn't worry about that, Haruhi. He's crazy, but he certainly doesn't have the ability nor the resources to do any of us any actual harm."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that Hika-chan." Hunny nimbly slid from his perch on the towels. "I think we need to be very worried."

Mori looked down at his cousin. "So you noticed it to," he said.

Hunny nodded. "Hai."

"Noticed what?" Tamaki asked, eyes wide and confused.

"Didn't you notice the hooded man, Tama-chan?" Hunny asked like a teacher teaching a lesson, and Haruhi noticed that despite his sweet voice, what he was saying was actually very serious. "He knew martial arts, and I think he was better than both Takashi and me."

Haruhi frowned. "But you scared him enough to let go, Mori-senpai," she said, gesturing to her injured wrist with her good arm.

"That's right!" Kaoru cried. "Besides, more powerful than you or Mori-senpai? You two are the best martial artists in the nation! World even. It's impossible."

Hunny shook his head. "No, no, no, it's in the stance. It was the way he was standing. He was totally blocked off!"

"No openings," Mori rumbled. " Everybody has openings, even us. He knew how to fight. And when I held his arm, you could tell. He was letting that happen."

Haruhi shivered. If this man was a stronger martial artist than her senpais…She looked at her bruised wrist. She had been lucky to escape with a bit of bruising. It could have been so much worse. It could still get much worse.

"Eh? Milord?" the twins asked, poking the evaporating Tamaki in the cheek.

Kyouya ignored them. He had reopened his computer, and his fingers were typing again. "We are going to have to double our security. If they are planning assassinations, then we need to be as prepared as possible, but we need to do so quietly. I know that my family can simply make more use of the private police, and we can of course lend some to your families."

Mori placed an arm on Hunny's shoulder, and the small blonde looked at him before saying, "We'll be okay. Aunty Morinozuka's family can just stay at my house! It'll be like a sleep over!" He smiled, excited at the idea of a slumber party with his cousin.

Kyouya nodded. "The Haninozukas and the Morinozukas combined should be able to defend against an assassination attempt. The rest of you will probably need some form of protection. I will arrange it."

The twins and Tamaki nodded, but Haruhi sat up. "Senpai, that's not-"

"It's very necessary," Kyouya interrupted, raising his hand to still her. "I'm afraid that you don't have a choice in this matter, Haruhi."

"But-"

"Kyouya's right, Haruhi," Hikaru said. "You're just going to have to deal with it."

"Besides," Kaoru threw in, "what would we do without our toy?" They winked at her.

Tamaki pointed a finger at Hikaru. "What was that?" he shrieked.

"What was what?"

"That implication against the future state of Haruhi's innocence!"

Haruhi let out a sigh as the bickering began. She would never get used to this…

Tachibana entered the room. "Master, your father says that you and your friends are permitted to leave now."

The Host Club gathered their belongings and allowed the body guards to lead them out of the linen closet.

Miles away, two men were standing in a dark alley. Water dripped from the pipes above, and rats scurried on the ground, making quick, light clacking noises against the concrete. Garbage littered the narrow pathway, and the smell was nauseating. The windows above were all boarded up. There was nobody else in sight, other than the two men. They both wore large, hooded cloaks that obscured their faces.

One of the men was smoking a cigarette. The smoke rose in the air like a sentient being. "Remind me," a raspy voice, "why we agreed to meet our guest here of all places?"

The other man faced him. "He requested it. A bit of obscurity is required after all. Who would expect such a dignified member of society to be here?"

The cigarette man scoffed and blew out another cloud. "He is a moron. There are plenty of other discreet places. Who does he think we are? Common drug dealers?"

"Don't ask me how his mind works."

His companion chuckled darkly. "But shouldn't you know best? After all, you are our leader, the one that we mortals are supposed to look up to during this mission. Isn't that right, Rasputin?"

Rasputin jumped and frantically turned his head left and right, checking for any sign of people. Seeing none, he hissed, "Don't call me that here! You don't know who could be listening."

"Like me."

Rasputin and the hooded man turned towards the right, where an indentation in the stone walls cast a shadow on another man clad in an American military uniform. He was leaning against the wall before he straightened up and began to walk towards the other two men. He bowed respectfully. "Rasputin-sama."

Rasputin didn't bow, but he removed his hood. "Uragirimono-san," he greeted. He gestured to the man on his left. "You have, of course, heard of Gomon Shi-san. He is to play a major role in the operation."

Uragirimono bowed to Gomon, who bowed back and removed his hood. He had black hair that reached his shoulders. He had hollow cheeks and an icy, unyielding expression that matched his ice-blue eyes. He regarded the military man, coldly before blowing a billow of smoke into the young man's face. He dropped the cigarette on the ground and crushed it with his shoe. "Any information for us, lieutenant? Or did we spend all this time waiting for just a nice chat?"

Uragirimono looked flustered, and it took a few attempts for him to speak before he was able to say, "Yes, sir. The Americans are aware of nothing, as they will continue to be. And the General of Tojiwara is prepared to move whenever you are ready."

Rasputin smiled evilly. "Excellent," he muttered, handing a roll of papers to the man. Uragirimono unrolled it, scanning the contents. "Do you think he can be ready within the month?"

He rolled the papers back up. "I believe he can be ready within the fortnight."

"Do it then. As soon as possible."

Uragirimono bowed. "Yes, sir." He turned away and placed his hands in his pockets, before exiting the alley.

Gomon and Rasputin waited a few minutes before raising their hoods again and walking in the opposite direction. Gomon pulled out another cigarette and lit it with a match. "Are you sure that we can trust him?" he asked.

Rasputin nodded. "Of course. If the General does, than so do I. He is a highly trained spy. Do you honestly believe that I would take any risks in this operation?"

"Not when you've got so much to gain."

Rasputin held out his hand. "Any cigars on you?" Gomon handed him one. He lit it and inhaled deeply. "It's so close…the power. I can taste it."

Gomon snorted. "If the Lord of Tojiwara gives it to you."

"There's no reason why he wouldn't. If this invasion goes successfully, than he will have no choice but to give me control of the country." He laughed. "Oh, I can see it! The ones that abused my talents and destroyed me for it. They never would have dreamed that I would have found my way into the Courts of the Supreme Ruler of their greatest enemy. Tojiwara." The pair turned into another alley way. "It won't matter soon though. None of them will have any other choice but to submit to my rule." Rasputin rubbed his hands together. "The things I will do to them! And then when I am bored of them, I will kill them."

"It sounds like you've got a bit of a revenge problem," Gomon said lightly.

Rasputin glared at him. "Don't insult my intelligence. I know that Fujioka girl is driving you just insane."

Gomon rolled his eyes. "I would have cared less about her, but now her friends have the idea that they won. They threatened me, she got away. I have to get that impression out of their heads, now don't I? Nobody beats me," he growled, his icy eyes sparking in the darkness.

"All in good time, partner. All in good time."

Kyouya rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses. Tonight had been a long night. The fact that he was sitting on the very comfortable bed didn't help his tiredness either. He was leaning against the headboard, going over various business issues. Like protecting the Host Club, his shares, his family, and his money. His family, both fictional and read, had been given the best protection possible. Every single one of them were sleeping under the watchful eyes of some of the best men that the Black Onion Squad had to offer. He knew that they would be fine. No, at that moment, the only things he was concerned about were the finances. It was silly, he knew, to worry about his money being threatened. There was no way that Rasputin, that bastard, could touch it. But still…Kyouya pushed his glasses further up his nose. What he had said unnerved him, which was unusual. Ootori Kyouya was not a person that got unnerved or intimidated very easily. Not by his father or his brothers. The only two people that had ever accomplished that were Tamaki and Haruhi, both of whom presented no threat to his finances. So why was he slightly (very slightly) nervous about their state?

He glanced at his clock. It was 3:30, late even by his standards. He plugged his laptop into the charger without shutting it off and closed his notebook. He leaned back, staring at the ceiling. The feeling churned in his stomach like a case of food poisoning, making him sweat through his silk pajamas. Despite his state of exhaustion, he couldn't force himself to sleep. Meanwhile, on his desk a very enticing blue-white screen beckoned him…

Kyouya rolled his eyes and swung his legs out of the bed. Sitting down at his desk, he opened up the internet browser. On the other hand, there was a very respectable Swiss bank that was offering to throw in about $10,000 for a certain wealthy business man to set up an account with a deposit of more than $20 million…

The maids found him asleep at his computer desk the following morning.

So that's the end of the chapter. The next one is where everything goes down hill for our beloved Host Club, so stay tuned! And review if you like. I've been reading fanfiction for a while, but I never knew just how amazingly exciting it is to get reviews. And here I was thinking it was silly. I'm going to start reviewing other people's stuff more often!


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me. It all goes to Bisco Hatori and the various people who will sue me if I claim otherwise.

* * *

Chapter 3

It was dusk. Above Rasputin, the moon was beginning to show its face to the world, standing subtly against the darker side of the darkening red sky. He walked slowly and nonchalantly, trying to keep attention from himself. The crowd around him was beginning to dwindle as the bright, glowing sun prepared to set. He stopped in front of a store and pretended to inspect the merchandise in the window before entering.

Inside was a antique shop filled with polished clay pots and old furniture. The whole store smelled like dust, but the blonde man didn't pay any attention to that as he nodded to the store keeper, who bowed. He walked to the back of the store without invitation and knocked a strange rhythm on the door. It was immediately opened for him.

Inside he found a large number of armed men. He nodded to them, unsurprised, and they allowed him to pass. In the back of the room, a large, heavy built man was standing over a table, on which a map had been laid. Rasputin stopped and watched him for a few moments, as the man ignored him. He was muscular and had a military cut that matched his harsh presence. His black uniform only complemented the dark, frightening image that he presented. It was enough to intimidate any normal man, but Rasputin only stood calmly unaffected. Without turning around, the general said, "Lord Seifuku should be arriving any day now."

Rasputin nodded. "Than we will be ready when that time comes."

"Of course." The general walked to the opposite end of the table. "We have men and ships positioned here, here, here and here," he said pointing a long index finger at each area on the map. "And more are on the way with His Majesty."

"How many?"

The General took a seat at the head of the table and looked at Rasputin. "Combined we will have at least 3 million troops at our disposal. More than enough to launch a successful offensive against the Japanese and American armies."

Rasputin nodded in approval. "And the Americans are, of course, unaware?"

"Aren't they always?" the General chuckled darkly. "Uragirimono made quite sure of that. I have also positioned enough troops around their base to make sure that when they do realize what has happened, they will be unable to act."

"Good, good, good. They would not be pleased with their precious little toy being stolen from right under them."

The General nodded. "I believe that war will be declared against Tojiwara the minute their president receives the news. Just as our Lord planned, their alliance will be very strong. A war is just what the people of Tojiwara need to instill further loyalty to the Court."

"Especially against the Americans." Rasputin turned his back. "As soon as possible then?" he questioned.

"As soon as I receive the order."

"Excellent."

* * *

Haruhi blew her bangs out of her face with a small gust of air. It had been a while since she'd let the twins anywhere near it, so it had gotten a bit longer than usual. Normally that would really bother her, but with the freezing temperatures, it kept her head a little bit warmer. She wrapped her arms tighter around her, shivering in the early morning air. It was winter, and the weather certainly showed it. Small white specs of snow softly cascaded from the sky in a suicide mission towards the earth. It landed lightly all around her, adorning the sidewalk and the trees with its light purity. Her brown eyes took it all in, and she breathed deeply. She had left early that morning to stop by the supermarket to buy some milk before school started so that her father would have it before he woke up, and she was glad that she had. The morning was absolutely captivating. Gorgeous. She paused for a minute. She could see the supermarket in her peripheral vision, but just for a few minutes, she wanted to watch the beautiful snow fall in peace…

* * *

Kaoru groaned, snuggling closer to his brother. Despite their world class heating system, he was still frozen to the bone. Stupid Japanese winter…He groggily propped himself on one elbow and looked over his brother's shoulder to check the digital clock on their nightstand. _6:00 _it read. He collapsed back onto his back. _We still have time, _he thought as his eyes started to slide close. They were almost shut before he snapped them open again. In the large window by their bed, there was something falling. He grabbed his twin's shoulder and started shaking. "Hikaru, wake up, wake up!"

His brother pushed the hand away. "Get me in five minutes," he grumbled.

"No! No, you've got to see this. Come on!" Kaoru frowned as his brother wrapped the pillow over his ears. A feline grin spread over his face as he crawled to his brother's side.

"Hey!" Hikaru yelled as he was shoved off of the bed. His head peaked over the side of the bed, and Kaoru laughed as he glared at his twin. "What's the big idea, you-" he faltered, catching sight of the window. "idiot," he finished softly.

Kaoru turned his attention back to the window, watching the snow fall. It fell like dancing figures, spinning and twirling in its descent. He felt his brother climb back onto the bed and sit next to him.

"Whoa."

"Yeah…whoa."

The two twins looked at each other grinning. "Tono is so going to get it today!" they cried before dissolving into fits of laughter, imagining the various snow-related pranks their senpai would be victim to.

* * *

Mori had just finished his early morning training when he saw it. He had been sitting in one of the many tables in the Haninozuka mansion, eating a large breakfast of eggs. He stared at it in solitude for a few minutes, admiring its simple beauty, for if there was one thing that Mori found beautiful, it was simplicity. He ate the eggs in silence until a high pitched, excited voice reached his ears.

"Takashi!" a small blonde came leaping down the stairs and into the room, exuberance shining through every pore. The young, childlike boy was practically bouncing up and down in a heavy brown overcoat and fluffy earmuffs. "Did you see? Did you see?" he asked, his face spilt in a huge, excited grin.

Mori gave a small smile. "Ah."

The Lolita bounded over to him. Hunny gripped his arm and looked out the great window with him. They watched the snow fall in silent reverence. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Hunny whispered in awe.

Mori slowly nodded. "It is."

* * *

Kyouay closed his laptop with a click and slid it into his bag. He ran a hand through his hair and glanced at the clock, sighing. It was too late to go to sleep now, he supposed. He had spent all night working on a new business deal, going over all the risks, the positives and negatives, evaluating the money. He had barely noticed the passing of the time, which often proved to be his undoing. He finished packing all of his school work, which he had also been doing, and turned around to see the sight before him.

His entire glass wall, which also functioned as a window, showed nothing but white. His coal black eyes followed the snowflakes drifting from the sky as they landing on the ground, disappearing quietly into the sea of white. All very crisp and clean. He leaned against the wall and gazed out, slightly interested. He knew that it was going to cause problems today, mainly annoying wetness and automobile accidents, but he allowed himself to appreciate it for a few moments. It was rather lovely after all…

* * *

Tamaki violently tugged on his expensive winter coat as he ran down the stairs. Several of the maids stared after him as he sprinted past, but they quickly turned back to their work. They had lived too long with the young master to not be used to this kind of behavior by now.

Shima stepped to the side as he came barreling through, barely missing her. "Young Master!" she called exasperated.

Tamaki spun around, jogging backwards. "Shima, my dear, you have to see it! It's magnificent, it's awe inspiring, it's-it's indescribable!" he cried with a leap in the air before turning around and resuming his sprint to the door. He grabbed both handles and threw the door open to reveal the winter wonderland. "Yahoooo!" he cried, attempting to leap off of his doorstep. Unfortunately, it was covered in ice, and the graceful bound that he had imagined turned into an ungraceful plummet. Tamaki landed face first onto the snowy lawn, his shoulders shaking.

The staff inside gasped and some of the servants ran (much more carefully) to their master to check for injuries. "Master Tamaki!" They quickly rolled him over and were surprised at the lack of tears, for instead of crying, Tamaki was laughing his head off.

He started moving his arms and legs back and forth. "Oh, my, isn't this great? Look! I'm making snow angels!" His light chuckling echoed around the yard. He sat up and looked at the relieved servants with a brilliant smile. "Try it, come join me!" he said, holding out a hand.

The servants looked at each other, torn. After a few seconds one of them shrugged and lay down in the snow next to him. Tamaki beamed at him. "It's like this!" he said, lying back down and swinging his limbs back and forth as the rest of the servants dropped their cleaning supplies to join the child they loved so much in one last morning of play.

* * *

At _6:00, _another person was just waking up. Rasputin slowly rose from his slumber and sat up straight. He stared out the small porthole by his bed. The snow fell like ash. "Today it begins," he murmured before dressing in his most impressive Tojiwaran military outfit. Above him, heavy thuds and the sounds of running feet reverberated across the ceiling, making his room shake a bit. The sound of a conquering army.

* * *

Haruhi looked up as the twins plopped down in the seats next to her. They shot her two identical grins before whipping their designer snow caps off their heads and shaking them above hers, sending wet snow into her hair.

"You guys!" she cried, covering her head.

"Come on, Haruhi," Kaoru laughed as he and his brother now circled around her, sending water drops from all angles.

"Don't you like snow?" Hikaru said, prodding her cheek with his forefinger.

Haruhi brushed his hand away. "I like it fine, thank you very much. Now sit down before we all get in-"

"Hitachiins, Fujioka!" The teacher scolded from his place in front of the blackboard. He glared at them, and the twins sent him a evil grin before sitting down, while Haruhi hit herself in the forehead with her palm. The teacher nodded at their calmer positions. "Better," he said in approval. He turned back to the blackboard and raised his hand. "Today we will be discussing the different characteristics of the Rococo style of art."

For the next hour or so, the teacher lectured, and Haruhi dutifully took notes. Next to her, Hikaru and Kaoru were ignoring the professor and were instead lobbing paper balls at each other over her head. She rolled her eyes and was about to scold them when she heard a click. She looked up. At the front of the classroom, above the blackboard, the large flat screen TV had turned on. The picture was very blurry, but it looked like there was an outline of a pale man on the screen.

"Hey, what's that?" Some of the students were whispering. Many of them by now had stopped pretending to pay attention to the lesson and were nudging their friends and pointing at the screen. She locked eyes with Hikaru and Kaoru, both of whom were just as confused as she was. Malfunctions didn't happen often at Ouran what with the state of the art technology and all.

The teacher, however, didn't seem to notice the screen turning on, but it was clear that he did hear a disturbance in his class room. He whirled around and glared at the students. "Now honestly, this is very rude," he chastised, and he opened his mouth to say more, but at that moment, the resolution cleared, and everybody could see who was on the screen. Haruhi gasped in recognition.

Rasputin was dressed much differently from the last time she had seen him. Gone were the threadbare clothes, which had been replaced with an imposing, orderly military suit. His hair was combed back into perfection, and his expression was one of triumph and exhilaration. "Today," he said, his voice a little distorted by the television, "is the beginning of a new era." The entire class fell silent. Haruhi felt each of the twins grab one of her hands. She squeezed them. "Starting today, the entirety of Japan is now underneath the divine rule of Lord Seifuku, emperor of the all powerful nation of Tojiwara."

Cries of outrage erupted around the room. "What, but that's ridiculous!"

"Who does he think he is?"

"No way, this has to be some kind of a joke."

Haruhi watched the screen transfixed, while Hikaru and Kaoru joined in the yelling.

"You have no choice," Rasputin continued. "Fight and you will be killed. Protest and you will be killed. Oppose and you will be killed. Tojiwara is superior, and it would be wise for the citizens of Japan to welcome and accept them. They are your masters, and you are the slaves. We want as little blood shed as possible. Prime Minister, I address you now. You have two hours to agree to be ruled. Until then, we will give you a little taste of what will happen should you not comply. Two hours," he threatened ominously before the TV shut off.

The entire room was deathly silent. Every student in the classroom held its breath, wondering if the TV would turn on and anything else would be said, as though it would turn on and it would all be a joke. Haruhi's fearful eyes met the twins.

And then the room shook as a huge BOOM exploded across the Ouran campus.

* * *

Tamaki leapt to his feet at the sound of the explosion. His heart was pounding a tattoo in his chest, and something had just EXPLODED, and everybody was screaming and running, and they were being taken over by whole other country, and he was scared.. He felt a hand seize him and yank him to the ground. He was too startled to fight, but once he was lying on his stomach on the cold marble tile, his mind cleared enough to see that it was his best friend that had pulled him down.

Kyouya was on his stomach too, grasping Tamaki's shoulder. "Tamaki," he said in a forced calm even though his eyes showed his true fear and urgency, "Tamaki, listen to me. We have to leave the building."

Tamaki frowned. "Leave the-"

"Yes!" Kyouya said impatiently. "Leave the building. We have to go now." Tamaki nodded slowly, still dazed. He saw his best friend bare his teeth, and for the first time, Kyouya looked scared, but it was like he was seeing it from another place, as though he was watching the scene from outside his body. Kyouya seized his shoulders and violently shook him. "Tamaki! Get a grip! I need you here with me now!"

Those words, more than the shaking, brought Tamaki out of his daze. He was still scared, and all around him, people were still panicking, but Kyouya needed him there. "All right," he yelled over the screams of the students.

Kyouya gave a stiff nod. "Follow me!"

With that, Kyouya leapt to his feet and ran at a half crouch with Tamaki at his heels. They wove around their frightened classmates and burst through the elegant doors into the hallway. There, hundreds of students were stampeding in various directions, all confused in their panic. Several of them were calling out for friends, looking for missing people, or nursing wounds from getting run over. Teachers didn't even try to calm the chaos; they were looking out for themselves.

Tamaki stayed close to his black haired friend, refusing to let them get separated. They ran through countless hallways and doorways, and Tamaki vaguely registered that they were in the second floor of the South Building. He pumped his arms and moved his legs as fast as he could, relying on all the running techniques that his personal trainer had taught him what seemed like a lifetime ago. The crowds were starting to clear up as they continued their wild flee. They rounded a corner, skidding with the speed. This hallway was empty with the exception of three very familiar looking first years…

"Haruhi! Hikaru! Kaoru!"

The three first years spun around in surprise. They had been staring out the window for the last few minutes. "Senpai, look," Haruhi said in a hollow voice, pointing out the window.

Tamaki looked out to see smoke and fire rising from a few buildings over. Tamaki gasped. "The Lower School," he said, his voice furious.

"That's not all," Haruhi heard Kyouya say, and she looked in the direction he was pointing. At the large wrought iron gates of Ouran High School, a large crowd of people was gathered. It looked like many of them were armed.

"The invasion!" the twins said in unison, pressing their faces against the window.

Suddenly, before their eyes, the gates gave way to the crowd, and the army poured in. They scattered across the campus, spreading like ink leaking from a pen, staining everything they came in contact with. There had to be at least two hundred men, all armed to the teeth and professionally trained to maim and kill. Several of them began to attack the buildings. Even from their position, they could hear the sound of popping sounds of gunshots. Red flowers suddenly blossomed on the snow.

"Oh, my God…" Kyouya breathed. His voice sounded shocked.

"Here they are!" a voice cried. The club spun around again at the high pitched sound of the boy before them. Hunny and Mori had just rounded the corner and were now running towards their friends. Haruhi felt her heart swell at the sight of them. She had been worried.

They didn't stop, and Hunny frantically beckoned them with his hand. "Come on, follow us!"

Without thinking, Haruhi and the rest of the club started running after the third years. To say that she was terrified was an understatement. It was as though her whole entire life was falling apart before her eyes, and her fear seemed to strangle and restrict her as she continued her sprint. She noticed with surprise that instead of going down, they were climbing stairs. Hunny and Mori guided them up two floors until they were at the top floor of the South building. Haruhi's heart skipped several beats as the sounds of anguished screams echoed up from the lower floors. The look on Mori's face confirmed her suspicions.

The group turned one last corner, and the North Hall lay before them. Now knowing where they were going, Haruhi and the others sped up. At the last few seconds, Kyouya took the lead and quickly removed his key from his pocket and shoved it into the key hole. The Ouran High School Host Club burst into Music Room Three.

Tamaki turned off the lights as the twins slammed the door behind them and leaned against it. They were holding hands, knuckles white. "What now?" Kaoru breathed, holding his knees and panting.

Mori disappeared into the costume closet and returned, holding a long staff from the last cosplay. He twisted it experimentally in his hands for a moment before suddenly swinging it like a baseball bat against the window. The glass shattered upon impact, scattering around the room and into the snow outside. Snow and wind suddenly flew into the room, and Haruhi realized that she had left her winter wear in the classroom due to the confusion.

Kyouya paled at the realization of Hunny and Mori's plan. "Through the window?" he cried, astounded.

Hunny ripped the curtains from the windows and began tying them together in expert knots. He experimentally pulled on each knot as he went. "We need to be unseen," he said simply, concentrating on his work. "Takashi and I will help you down."

"This is insane," Hikaru muttered, fear lacing his voice. He peered out the shattered window to look at the ground several feet below.

Tamaki looked scared for a second, but he took a deep breath and put on a determined expression. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," he said, firmly, but he too looked at the makeshift rope warily.

Mori took Hunny's completed rope and hurled it over the edge of the window, securing the end of it to a hook on the wall. "Mitsukini," he gruffly said.

"Hai." Hunny grabbed part of the rope to support it and nodded to his cousin with deadly serious expression.

Suddenly Haruhi found herself being lifted in the air, and she let out a surprised cry. Mori had picked her up and was now holding her with one arm. "This will be easier if I don't have to hold on to you," he said, and Haruhi nodded, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. Normally, such a thing would be awkward, but Haruhi was too scared to care. Her gaze found the ground several stories below.

"Be careful," Kyouya said softly. "And Haruhi." Haruhi looked at him. Kyouya pushed his glasses up his nose. "Do try not to scream."

With that, Mori leapt onto the edge of the window, holding on to the rope with both hands and jumped off. Haruhi squeezed her eyes shut as her stomach leapt to her throat, and her grip on Mori tightened. She had to bite her lip to keep herself from screaming, and she heard Mori grunt as his legs hit the side of the building like a mountain climber. Seconds later, he bounced away from the wall and came back again, sliding down the rope each time. _Please let it end, please let it end, please let it end, _her mind chanted, and she refused to move until Mori tapped the back of her head with a finger. "We're here," he said, and she opened her eyes to see the ground a modest distance of six feet. He gently placed her on the ground. "Stay." She watched him begin to pull himself up the rope now, scaling the building.

* * *

Thousands of miles away, two women stared at the television in horror. Various scenes of violence were shown in rapid succession: people being beat, tanks rolling down the streets, faceless men marching with guns, fire, explosions. "Although the invasion began just thirty minutes ago, Japan is already being torn apart. The Americans have declared war, but due to the new blockade of Tojiwaran ships and the sheer number of Tojiwaran forces, it seems that the island country will not be able to receive reinforcements. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, Diet, and the Emperor are all being forced to make a hard decision: surrender control, or watch the country be ravaged," the newscaster said in a anxious voice.

The blonde woman had tears leaking out of her worried eyes. She was beside herself with fear, shaking and pulling at her hair. Her companion looked at the woman with sympathy. A sudden determination crossed her face, and the woman stood up. She looked down at the sobbing blonde. "Your son…he has a friend that lives not to far from here. She goes to school with him, but she came back home for a few weeks. If there is anybody that knows of his whereabouts, it is she."

The maid was silent. The girl sighed. "I can asked the driver to get the car ready. We can leave for her mansion in ten minutes."

The blonde maid looked up in disbelief before she smiled gratefully. She too stood up and grasped the girl's hand. "Thank you, Éclair."

Meanwhile, in said mansion, the cry of "DADDY!" rang through out the mansion, and every member of the household was startled awake.

* * *

Against all odds, Mori and Hunny got every member of the Host Club onto the ground without being seen. Soon after, Kyouya had gotten a call from his father, who told him that there was a train at the train station that was taking a limited number of passengers to secret American helicopters. His father was already on his way to another set of helicopters, but the Host Club had a chance to escape if they could get on that train. So they had taken off by foot through the delivery entrance of the school, and they ran through the city. Miraculously, they were able to flee through the city unnoticed. Soldiers and tanks marched through the cobbled roads, and stores everywhere were burning. The snow around them was pink with blood and corpses.

By the time they had reached the station, they were filthy, covered with ash, sweat, and dirt. They rushed inside, expecting it to be empty, but Haruhi gasped at the sight before her. The entire place was teeming with people. Word must have gotten out about the train because people were yelling and screaming, baggage in hand. They bumped and jostled against each other, fighting their way to the large, grey machine at the front. There was a manic look in their eyes that exuded chaos and fear. The fear was contagious, and Haruhi felt panic begin to pick at her insides.

Next to her, Kyouya glanced at his watch. Haruhi watched his face blanch. "Five minutes!" he yelled over the crowd. He'd accidentally let some of his fear enter his voice, and it was that that made threw Haruhi's adrenaline to its peak, and she ran.

The rest of the Host Club sprang into action. Hunny and Mori took the lead as the friends began to run forward. When they met the large body of people, the martial arts experts began to force their way through, pushing people out of their way and making room for the rest of the club. Hikaru and Kaoru followed them, their large black winter coats billowing behind them. Tamaki seized Haruhi's hand and began to pull her forward, while Kyouya took up the rear.

Haruhi ran faster than she ever had in her life, but with a stab of fear, she began to feel herself fall behind. "Come on, Haruhi," Tamaki panted, now pulling at her, urging her to go faster. She knew that was dragging him down, and she was so scared, and the rising panic in her body was _pulling _and _tearing _at her. She let out a small scream as she heard gunshots behind her. _They've found us! _

Kyouya picked up his pace and seized her hand. He and Tamaki started to run faster, so that she was being dragged by two hands. "Faster, Haruhi!" he bellowed, but she was so much smaller than them and so much less fit…She could barely keep up as it was. A group of people slammed into them, and Kaoru's elbow hit her face, leaving a mark, but otherwise not harming her.

A train whistle blew.

"NO!" Kaoru cried.

Haruhi felt tears running down her cheeks. They weren't going to make it even though they were now so close…She could see the train, and it started to move, it's wheels making chugging noises as the rotated. It moved teasingly slow…Suddenly Mori took a running leap, and he cleared the closing gate on the caboose and landed on the grey metal of the small protruding platform. The employee there looked at him in horror, and had the situation been different, it would have been comical. It wasn't different though, and lives were at stake.

Haruhi watched relieved as Hunny also leaped onto the platform, and together, he and Mori seized the twins by the back of their cloaks and hauled them onto the train. They landed in a crumpled heap and looked up from their positions on the ground, their eyes wide and their faces panicked. Mori reached out and grabbed Kyouya by the forearm, and Kyouya released Haruhi's hand before he was pulled onto the platform. Now it was only Tamaki and Haruhi, but the employee had stepped forward. Haruhi watched in horror as he attempted to close the gate to the caboose, and she tried to run faster.

"No!" she heard Kyouya yell. The furious boy grabbed the man's arm. "There's more left!"

"There's no room!"

Kyouya grabbed him by the shoulders and shook them. "Yes, there is! Look! There's plenty of room on this goddamn train!" he growled, but the moron shook him off and slammed the gate shut. "You IDIOT!" Kyouya bellowed, now beginning to feel the fear invade his mind and reason.

"Kyouya!"

Kyouya spun around at the sound of his best friend's voice. Tamaki and Haruhi were still running alongside the train. _No, not them, _a voice said in his head, and he desperately threw himself against the gate, which made a deep clanging sound at the impact. He reached his hand out to them as far as it could go. He could feel the metal painfully digging into his side, but he couldn't let his friends be left behind. He pushed himself further.

Thankfully, Tamaki was able grab hold of his hand. _Yes! _Kyouya thought as grasped the boy's arm with two hands and pulled. With his help, Tamaki was able to leap onto the very edge of the platform. However, the movement jolted Haruhi, forcing her to release his hand. Tamaki twisted his head around in surprise. Haruhi was now on her own. And she was falling behind.

"Senpai!" She yelled.

"No!" the blonde screamed as he realized what was happening. Kyouya's heart jumped when his friend tried to jump off the train, but he refused to let go, using all his strength to keep Tamaki on board. He noticed Mori grab hold of the blonde boy's waist. Hunny was trying to keep the train employee from interfering.

Tamaki reached out his free hand. "Take my hand!" he yelled, his hair billowing in his face. His blue eyes were beyond terrified, and Kyouya knew how he felt because while Tamaki was aboard and safe, Haruhi wasn't. Hoping to give Tamaki more length, he slid his hands down Tamaki's arm until they were gripping his wrist. He knew that he wasn't thinking straight, but it was detrimental that they get the girl onto the train. They _had _to get her on the train.

The twins threw themselves against the gate. "Come on, Haruhi!" they yelled, but Kyouya blocked them out, concentrating on the hands, trying to will them to catch hold of each other. Pure terror squeezed him at the first feeble attempt to join hands, but on the second try, Tamaki had hold of Haruhi's fingers. The King tried to pull her up with all his might, but the train was picking up speed, and Haruhi was drifting behind.

"HARUHI!"

"Don't let go!" Her small voice was barely audible over the sounds of the train and the yells of the crowd, but the Host Club could hear it clearly. Kyouya saw her hand start to slip…At that moment, the train hit a bump, and Haruhi's fingers slid from Tamaki's like slow motion.

"NO!" he yelled, as Tamaki bellowed "HARUHIII!" at the same time, and the whole club screamed as Haruhi tumbled to the ground, propelled by the momentum of the train. Her head hit the ground with a sickening crack that could be heard over their heart wrenching, anguished screams, and Kyouya couldn't believe it, he wouldn't believe it…

Mori finally yanked Tamaki into the carriage, and he fell in a crumpled, defeated pile, his shoulders shaking in agony. Kyouya fell to his knees, hugging his arms as though trying to hold in the pain. It leaked out however, and he felt a warm wetness running down his face in rivets.

"Stop the train," he heard Hikaru whisper in disbelief. He watched the red head seize the train employee by the lapels and lean in until he was inches from the man's face. "STOP THE TRAIN!" he bellowed now.

The man seemed shocked and unable to speak because he just opened and closed his mouth, shaking his head. Disgusted, Hikaru tossed the man aside and threw himself against the gates, and Kyouya saw his eyes scanning the distance, looking, he knew, for the girl. But the train was chugging away…Away from the station, away from Ouran, away from Japan, away from Haruhi.

Beside him, Mori collapsed on all fours and was staring at the ground, small tears plopping against the grey metal. Hunny had thrown his arms over his head, as though to protect himself from the enormity of what had just happened. Kaoru covered his mouth, trying to stifle the sobs that were violently surging through his body. Tamaki, however, made no such attempt. The King of the Host Club let the sobs take him, and they escaped as loud, heartbroken cries that echoed through the night as the princes left their kingdom and princess behind.


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: All goes to Bisco Hatori and all the people that will sue me of I claim otherwise.

AN: 6/24. Thanks to everybody! Thanks for all the reviews/alerts/hits/visitors/favorites! I feel so super special right now :) Enjoy!

Chapter Four

Cold. That was all she could feel. A freezing, penetrating coldness that seemed to go all the way to her bones, making her ache. She felt her teeth chattering, and she looked around. _What a strange place_, she thought, gazing in confusion at the sight before her. She seemed to be standing before a strange castle. It was large and ornate and very gorgeous, but there was a darkness in this world that made it seem ominous and intimidating. The darkness was everywhere, for each shadow seemed much larger and blacker than shadows normally were, and there was very little light. She looked up and gasped. There was no sun in this world! The whole sky had been painted over with dark black clouds that obscured all the color of her surroundings. The sky was a dull yellow at points were the clouds were thinner, but those areas were few and far between. She stumbled backwards at the sight, an irrational nervousness taking her over at the sight of those clouds.

She gazed up at the castle again, weighing her options. She shivered with the cold. _There doesn't seem to be any other option but to go in, _she thought. She jogged up the large steps to the double doors. She looked up, impressed with their height. They had to be at least twice as tall as she was. She took hold of the handle with her pale fingers and glanced backwards at the dark courtyard before pulling the heavy door open and sliding inside.

...

The soldier kicked aside a piece of burning wood and surveyed the damage. The entire platform had been destroyed. Debris was scattered all over the ground from the explosion that had caved in a good portion of the roof. Little patches of fire were still eating away at the wood, and a few bodies were lying motionless, their lifeless eyes staring at the devastation in frozen horror. A few cries from the survivors met his ears, and he blocked out their anguish. Trash from the knocked over receptacles danced around him, guided by the wind. A wrapper landed on his shoe.

He looked down in disgust and shook it off when something caught his eye. A glint. He bent down, and his large, gloved fingers picked up the shiny object. It was a gold key, old fashioned and long. And very expensive looking. He stared at it in confusion. It seemed so out of place on the filthy, destroyed platform. He looked around on the ground, wondering if there were any other treasures nearby. Something pale peaked out from underneath a slab of wood. A hand.

The soldier rushed over, lifted the wood, and swept away some of the rubbish. Beneath all the trash was a small, brown haired boy. He was dressed in a light blue jacket and fancy pants and leather shoes, all of which looked very expensive. He was probably from that one rich kid high school down the road. The soldier felt a pang of sadness as he looked at the boy. It looked so tiny and thin, and the face, despite the small bruise on its cheek, looked innocent and vulnerable. The kid's shoulders hadn't even broadened out yet. He had died very young. Suddenly, the soldier's eyes widened. The chest was rising and falling.

"Hey!" he yelled. "I've got a live one over here!"

And with that, the young boy was lifted into the truck with the rest of the survivors and driven to the Ootori hospital.

...

The train chugged along, and Kaoru listened to its groans and various other noises in silence. His red hair, which was normally groomed to perfection, stuck up in every direction and still had ash in it. The snow's wetness had long ago dried from it, but he pulled his coat tighter around himself. Somewhere within the back of his mind, he registered that Haruhi hadn't had a coat on when she…fell. He rubbed his puffy, blood shot eyes, but there were no more tears. He had already exhausted them for the night.

Beside him, Hikaru was hunched over with his hands folded. His eyes looked at the ground distressed, and he had long ago shed his winter coat. Kaoru saw him shiver but said nothing. He knew what he brother was thinking. If Haruhi didn't have a coat, he wouldn't have a coat. It was a pointless act though, for they still had much more than their friend did at the moment.

Kyouya was sitting next to Hikaru with his eyes closed and his head leaning back against the seat. His lips were moving though, so Kaoru knew that his friend wasn't asleep. It looked like he was counting, trying to distract himself. He had been doing that ever since the train master had forced them to move from the caboose to a carriage. Kaoru noticed the dark shadows underneath his eyes. He could probably use some sleep, but Kaoru knew that it would be awhile before any of them would be able to sleep again.

Directly across from Kaoru, Hunny was snuggled against Mori for warmth. His eyes were heartbreakingly empty for the small teenage boy, as though he had lost everything that made them spark. Tears were still leaking from them, but they flowed silently and without a sound. He pressed himself closer to Mori, who looked broken. It was as though all the fight had gone out of him, and his samurai-like senpai wrapped an arm around his cousin, while his other hand gripped the cloth of his coat. The knuckles were white from how tightly he was holding it. Kaoru had never seen him look so helpless, and he knew that Mori was blaming himself for not being able to help Haruhi.

_Not as much, _Kaoru thought to himself, _as Tono, though. _He looked to the spot directly across Kyouya. The blonde teen was hunched over much like Hikaru, but unlike his twin, he had his face in his hands and was gripping at his hair. Kaoru had long since stopped listening to him, but if he pricked his ears, he could hear his friend muttering. "Nous l'avons laissee. Je ne peux pas croire nous l'avons laissee. C'est de ma faute. C'est de ma faute." Kaoru remembered with a pang how the train master had come to tell them to move, and Kyouya had shook his best friend, trying to get him up off the ground. When he wouldn't move, Mori had had to bodily lift the blonde and carry him like a sack of potatoes to the carriage. Tamaki had been muttering in French ever since.

Karou turned away from their king. It felt like he was intruding on something private. It was painful to look at him. Kaoru turned his gaze to the window. He knew that the train was taking an out of the way route, one that would keep them away from the cities and away from the soldiers. The only thing visible through the glass was a blanket of snow, occasionally broken by bare trees and mountains.

At least three hours had passed since the bomb had exploded within the Lower School Building. He wondered whether there were any survivors and if Shiro was one of them. His mind continued to worry. Where were his parents? It was true that they had never spent much time with the twins, but they still loved them. Were they even alive? And what about the families of the rest of the hosts? Were they all right? After they had gotten the call from Kyouya's father, they had been too frightened to think of anything else except getting on that train. If they had stopped to think about it though, they wouldn't have made it to the station with enough time to get onboard. They had barely made it in the first place.

His thoughts drifted back to Haruhi, and he saw her face in his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to send the image away. He wished that they could go back, that they could return and search for their friend. But the train wouldn't stop, and they were way too far away now to get off and walk back. Even if they did, as he so wanted to, he knew that the results would be fatal. There had been soldiers on the platform, collecting people and taking them away. The whole city had been overrun, and if they went back now, they'd surely be shot on sight. And that was not something that Haruhi would want. Who knew if she was even - Kaoru's eyes widened, and he seized his brother's hand. Hikaru looked at him confused, but he shook his head. Hikaru understood though and squeezed back. Haruhi had to be okay. She _had _to be.

Suddenly the sharp ring of a phone interrupted his train of thought and shattered the silence. All the hosts jumped at the sound, which seemed much louder due to the silence. Kyouya reached into his pocket, eyes still closed. All eyes watched him as he flipped the phone open and placed it by his ear. "Hello?" he murmured quietly.

"Where are you guys?" a voice yelled through the phone loud enough to fill the carriage. Kyouya clutched his ear nearly fell out of his seat in surprise. He shot into an upright position as Tamaki looked up, and the twins jaws dropped.

"Renge?" Kyouya asked in an astonished tone, gripping his phone.

He held the phone away from his head as the girl replied. "Of course, it's me! You have caller ID, you should know! What's going on over there? It's all over the news!"

"What's the news saying?" Hunny asked, untangling himself from his cousin.

"Apparently the Diet has given total control to Tojiwara!" she yelled. "The Americans and the UN are so super angry! They're talking war!" The hosts looked at each other in astonishment. They had surrendered. Given up. "Where are you guys?" the otaku repeated.

"We're on a train on its way to Nagasaki Airport," Kyouya said. "They have helicopters waiting to fly some survivors out."

"Do you know where they're going?"

There was a moment of silence. Kyouya's brow furrowed, and Kaoru knew what he was thinking. Where would they be going? And how had they missed that? Kyouya cleared his throat. "Not particularly. There was…an accident," Kyouya's voice stumbled on the word, "and we didn't think to check."

"So you're about to go on helicopters that are going God knows where?" Renge shrieked. Nobody answered. "Do you know what you will do when you get there?" Still no answer. Kaoru could practically see her hair turning into snakes. "You are all IDIOTS! It could be a refugee camp! A refugee camp! With improperly prepared food and disease and people of all kinds! Like thugs! Rapists! So. Not. Moe!"

"Well, where else are we supposed to go?" Hikaru snapped. He was glaring at the phone. "We don't really have a choice! Where would you have us go, _princess_?"

"France."

There were a few moments of stunned silence. Tamaki spoke for the first time. "France?" he said, sounding shocked.

"Of course," Renge said over the phone. "My family has a private jet grounded at Nagasaki. I can call the pilot and have him fly you to my mansion."

"In France?" Tamaki whispered, as though he had never heard of the place. Kaoru saw a myriad of emotions pass through the young blonde's face. Surprise, confusion, joy, sadness, despair. They quickly flit through him.

Renge was still on the phone. Kyouya spoke into it. "Thank you for your generosity, Renge," he said, gratitude in every layer of his voice, and Kaoru knew that for once it wasn't the fake kind that the Shadow King usually gave his customers. Back then, Kyouya would never have exposed so much of himself as he had tonight. For once, the boy was at his rawest form, which wasn't surprising considering all that had happened that day.

"I'll alert the pilot at once!" Renge cried. "And you guys, be careful!" she said a bit softer before she hung up and all that could be heard was a dial tone.

Kyouya shut his phone and placed it back into his pocket. "At least we know where we're going now," he said in a dull voice.

Hikaru snorted. "Wonderful…" he said sarcastically before slouching in his seat. Kaoru was still holding his hand. He could feel it shaking. His twin's lips were blue.

"Hikaru…" his twin muttered.

Mori stood up, and the occupants of the car watched in confusion. The tall boy reached onto the baggage rack for the dark fabric of Hikaru's discarded coat. He shook it out and laid it across Hikaru's body like a blanket. The twin was about to protest before Mori raised a hand, demanding silence. "Freezing won't help anybody," he said roughly before sitting down next to his cousin, who once again huddled against him.

Hikaru looked angry for a few seconds and seemed to be considering shoving the offending material off when Kaoru squeezed his hand. His brother looked at him, and Kaoru tried his best to communicate with his eyes. "_Please, just leave it," _he silently pleaded, and the other red head's face softened. Hikaru raised his legs and hugged them underneath the long overcoat, burying his face in his knees.

It seemed like only a few minutes before the train careened to a stop in front of the airport, even though it had taken about another hour. All around the train, people were being ushered out by the Japanese guards, and Hikaru put his coat on properly before exiting with the rest of the club. The passengers were herded off like cattle and directed through the gates of the airport. Kaoru made sure to grab hold of Hunny's shoulder, so as not to get separated. The boy Lolita looked up at him in surprise before giving a small smile. About a hundred meters away, there were about ten America helicopters preparing for take off.

"Host Club! Host Club!" a small voice called over all the chatter and wind. On the other side of the crowd, a small, mousy haired man in a parka held a sign in the air painted with the letters "OHSHC". He seemed to have seen Kaoru watching him, so he jumped up and down in the air, assuring him that this was the person they needed to meet. Kaoru nudged Tamaki, who turned.

"Kyouya," the blonde said, and his best friend turned.

Kyouya narrowed his eyes against the snowy wind. "Looks like our ride has arrived," he said before marching towards the man with a tall stride. The rest of the crowd followed.

"It is good to make acquaintance with you," the man said in awful Japanese. "I am called Baptiste, and I am employed by Houshakuji. If you please follow me." The man spun on his heel and bounced jauntily towards to modest sized jet further down the runway. Kaoru glared at his cheerfulness. Just where had that man been the last few hours? What right did he have to be so happy when his own world was falling apart around him? He and his brother shrugged simultaneously and followed the man as the rest of the club trailed behind them. "Young mistress said seven," Baptiste said in a slightly confused, but still infuriatingly cheerful voice.

He looked up. "Huh?"

"Seven," the man clarified. "But six walk are here. Where is number seven?" For a few minutes, the club didn't answer, and the man turned back around, thinking that he was being ignored. Kaoru saw "number seven" in his mind again, and he shook his head vigorously.

"There was an accident," Tamaki said. Kaoru looked up and saw him standing at his tallest, looking the pilot in the eye. The man looked slightly shocked. "There will be only six of us on this flight," Tamaki finished, waiting for the man's response.

Baptiste had the decency to look aggrieved. "I am very sorry," he said, as they finally reached the plane. There were stairs at the front which they could use to board. Baptiste rapidly climbed to the top and opened the door, bowing. The club didn't move. They stared at the plane for a few minutes, knowing that this was it. This was the moment that they would really leave Haruhi. To Kaoru, the plane seemed to grow larger and more intimidating. It seemed to stare down at him, daring him to board. His stomach churned. Suddenly, a small figure stepped forward. He watched Hunny stride forward with a determined, yet pained face and begin the ascent. Immediately, Mori followed him, as did Kyouya and Tamaki. Tamaki paused at the door, staring out, before ducking his head and entering. It was just Kaoru and Hikaru now.

Kaouru looked at his brother and stretched out a hand. "Ready?"

Hikaru sighed. "Not really." He took the hand, and together they climbed the stairs. Hikaru released his hand and ducked through the doorway, but Kaoru stared out at the horizon for a second. The passengers from the train were entering the helicopters. Snow blew around him. He looked east, the direction he knew that Ouran was. Hikaru poked his head outside. "Are you coming?" he asked.

"Yeah," he said absentmindedly._ We'll come back for you, Haruhi _,he promised before entering the plane, and the door shut behind him.

...

A hundred miles way, Doctor Jihi was preparing the injections. He had been specially brought in with a team of distinguished doctors from Tojiwara to treat any injured survivors to the attacks and to assess the current patients of the hospital. He carefully poured a few millimeters of solution into a syringe, and down the hallway, he could hear the pleading of a Japanese doctor.

"No, you can't!" he was yelling. "You can't do this, they're just patients, this is MURDER!"

Jihi winced at the anguish coming from the young physician. He wasn't thrilled about what he was about to do either, but orders were orders, and they had to be followed. He carefully placed the waiting syringe in a case, which he then placed in his pocket. His white lab coat blew around him as he joined his team.

One of them, a small, black haired kid that looked like he had just graduated medical school was eyeing his syringe nervously. "And we're supposed to inject the patients with these?" he asked, his hand shaking.

"Don't think of them as patients," another doctor said. "They're Japanese, far beneath you. Their numbers need to go down, and we all need to do our part."

The kid's eyes were wide open and terrified. "B-b-but-"

The older doctor snorted. "If you can't handle it, go tell Rasputin yourself. We don't have time to waste on your foolishness." With that, the man brushed past the black haired kid and strode down the hallway, the rest of the team behind him. The kid seemed to debate for a few moments before running to catch up with them. Jihi sighed, following at a leisurely pace. He put on a careful mask as he passed the room in which the Japanese doctor was yelling. The man's bellows and shrieks reached a peak and followed him down the hallway. Jihi tried to calm his rapidly beating heart.

It wasn't long before they reached the large, white double doors. A doctor stepped forward and pushed it open, holding it for the other doctors that entered. The all stopped at the entry way to observe the sight before them. On both sides of the long room, unconscious patients in beds lined the wall. Young, old, men, women. They were all present, and all of them had the crooks of their elbows exposed to them. In a corner, a few nurses were crying. One, however, was struggling against a guard while yelling in rapid Japanese. He didn't understand much Japanese, having only taken a year of it in college, but he was able to guess the reason for her loud protests.

"All right, gentlemen," the head doctor said, stepping forward. He gestured toward all the patients. "They're all yours." With that, the doctors scattered across the room. Jihi watched them eagerly stick their needles into the arms of the patients with disgust. The Japanese nurse was crying now.

Jihi took a deep breath and walked towards the nearest patient. He didn't look at its face only its arm. He plunged the syringe into its arm…and froze. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried again, but once again, he couldn't seem to make his thumb push the trigger down. He glared at his hand. Maybe another patient. He pulled the syringe out and looked around. All around him, poisonous liquid was being injected into the bodies of unknowing patients. Chests rose and fell for the last time everywhere he looked, and he could practically hear their heartbeats quicken and suddenly stop like a car crashing into another. He had always laughed at the idea that it was easier to talk and think about killing than to do the act, but as he held his weapon in his had, he found the notion truer than anything he had ever believed in his whole life. He just couldn't do it! And there would be consequences to his inaction.

He looked around, lost as to what he should do. However, he was struck by a sudden idea as he saw one of his fellow doctors hurrying to a bed. Jihi sprinted forward and reached the bed first. He put back his mask and looked his fellow "doctor" straight in the eye. "Sorry!" he chuckled. "Called this one!" The man grumbled a bit before leaving to find another patient. Jihi let out a silent breath of relief and looked down at the life he had just saved. It was a teenage girl, but she hardly looked like a teenager underneath the sheets. She had very little figure, and she was so small. Her pixie face looked miniscule on top of the overly large pillow. She had short brown hair that splayed out around her head like a small halo. _Yes, _he thought as he carefully took out an empty syringe, _if there was anybody I could have chosen to save, _he plunged the syringe into her elbow, _I'm glad that it was her. _

Seconds later, the head of the group called for silence. All the doctors took their one murder and wheeled their gurneys through the doorway. As Jihi pushed the girl past the nurses, one of them got onto her knees and glared at him fiercely. "Murderer!" she screamed in bungled Tojiwaran, and she spit at him. The guards had her on the floor before he'd left the room.

The doctors continued their journey through the hospital to what Jihi knew to be the morgue. Jihi could practically hear the girl's heart beating. They were going to get caught, he was sure of it…She was so obviously alive, anybody could tell. Her chest was still rising and falling.

A gasp met his ears, and he turned his head. Standing against the wall was a red-haired woman. She held her hands against her mouth, and tears were running down her face, smearing her makeup. She stared distraught at the procession. Jihi swallowed a gulp and turned his attention back to straight in front of him. He couldn't have his cover blown by showing sympathy to the woman. When the turned the corner and she fell out of sight, he breathed a sigh of relief. They were nearly to the morgue now…

At that moment, double doors in front of him opened, and another procession was making its way down the hallway. The Parade of the Living. As they rode past hinm, he looked around cautiously before spinning the girl around and joining them. They entered another hallway before they could reach the red haired woman.

...

The Host Club dreamed.

...

Mori was running. The trees around his rushed past, blurring with his speed. He pumped his arms and legs as fast as he could, and although he felt like his body was going to collapse beneath him, he ignored the burning feeling in his legs and the pain in his lungs. He had to keep going. He couldn't stop for anything. If he did, he'd surely lose her…

Ahead of him, a figure leapt nimbly over a log, her long hair flowing behind her in the wind. Mori could see her, but only barely. She was always just outside of his grasp. The snow fell around them. He heard her giggle, and the noise echoed around him, unusually loud. He had to catch her. She was so close…He put on a burst of speed and reached for her elbow…but then he was falling? He crashed face first into the ground, moss and wet soil squishing into his skin. He looked up desperately and saw the girl run away and out of sight, still giggling. He raised himself up on his hands and knees, staring at the ground below him. He'd lost her. She was gone. Gone. _Gone. _And the snow fell around him, and with closer inspection, he realized that it wasn't snow after all. He picked up a piece and saw that they were shreds of paper. Paper with _words. _He squinted his eyes, trying to see what it said before he dropped it, his eyes wide with fear. He leapt to his feet and started running again, sprinting after the missing girl. Behind him he left the paper, which held a single word. "Lost."

...

Kaoru dreamed he was in a wreckage. He groaned in pain and gently touched his head, and when he pulled his hand away, he saw a red sticky substance. He wiped it against the bright green French overcoat he was wearing, and he raised himself to his hands and knees and looked around. The moon shined down on him, and a few feet away, he saw other bodies.

"No!" he cried, and clambered to his feet, his head going dizzy in response. He clutched his head and stumbled towards the bodies. Bits of smashed pumpkin were scattered everywhere, its orange rind splattered against everybody. They were all there. The driver, his hat off and his blonde hair covered in blood. The small boy in the orange overcoat, and his guardian dressed in navy blue. The one clothed in violet was missing his glasses, but he was otherwise all right. His brother was there too, wearing his light blue overcoat. But there was somebody missing. "Princess!" he cried, his panic beginning to grow. _No. Nononono. NO! _his mind cried. He frantically turned his head right and left, fear playing a diminished cord against his heartstrings. He ran towards the other side of the wreckage, trying to see if she was behind the giant pumpkin that had been destroyed. "PRINCESS!" he screamed, his voice raw and distraught. He crumbled to his knee, knowing that all hope was lost. Hot tears ran down his face as he shook. They something caught his eye. He gasped and opened his eyes wide with astonishment. Then, oh so carefully, he gently took hold of the perfect glass slipper that was lying on a pillow of ferns.

...

Kyouya dreamed that he was standing in his room back at home, and he was furious. The painting was so _close _to being done. His inner artist could see it, the gorgeous blue vase of flowers that his mind had created. He had spent what felt like an entire lifetime painting that image, perfecting it. He'd started with the lavender rose, and once he had finished it, adding a bit more light to it, he had moved on to the white, and the navy, and the pink, and the orange, and the blue. All that he had left to do was the bright red rose. In his mind, it was absolutely stunning, it's beauty far more exhilarating and far more breath taking than all of the flowers put together. He'd reserved a very special spot for that flower, right in the center of the painting, where all the other flowers would be able to touch it. However, when he had tried to paint that flower, he realized that he had no more paint left. His palette was empty.

He angrily pushed the intercom button by his door, but he only received a dial tone. He gritted his teeth and violently pressed the button a few more times. "God damn it," he growled through his teeth and spun around to look at the painting, his heart breaking at how empty it looked without that red flower.

...

Hikaru dreamed that he was back in Karuizowa, the resort that the Host Club had visited last summer. The rain was pouring down in torrents, and he could feel it running down his back and into his eyes, but he paid it no heed as he ran. Thunder roared above him, and he picked up the pace, knowing that somewhere, his friend was more terrified. He seized a random passerby by her shoulders and shook her, the water droplets spraying around them from the movement. "Help me, please, I'm looking for a girl!" he cried, and he was scared, so very scared.

The woman shook her head. "I'm so sorry, but I haven't seen who you're looking for." She pulled away and continued walking. He could feel tears springing to his eyes in his helplessness, and he furiously wiped them away before he continued running. A flash of lightening illuminated a large cross, and he skidded to a stop, his eyes wide. He quickly turned his head to the side and saw a small building before him. He gasped. _That's right! _He sprinted towards the church and burst through the doors. "Haruhi!" he cried in relief. He knew she had to be in here, she just had to be!

He ran up the aisle, joy spreading like the smile on his face. He laughed. "I should have known that you would be here. I was so worried, but that doesn't matter now!" He laughed again, but he stopped when he received no response. Another crash and boom of lightning and thunder, and very surprised, Hikaru heard no accompanying scream. He felt his blood run cold. "Haruhi?" he said slowly. He crept up to the alter, scared of what he might find. His hand found the sacred cloth, and he grasped it with all the strength he had. _Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please…_his mind chanted before he took a deep breath and looked behind the alter. Nothing was there.

...

Hunny's dream was much different. He was sitting in the Ouran cafeteria, but it wasn't quite like the cafeteria he knew. All the lights were off, and the sky outside the large ceiling to floor windows was cloudy and ominous. The room was completely empty, and he gazed around in confusion. How strange…

Suddenly a door opened, and the creak echoed throughout the cafeteria. Hunny's eyes opened wide as a girl with long brown hair slipped in through the small space and closed the door behind her. A very familiar girl.

"Haru-chan!" Hunny cried, leaping to his feet. The girl jumped at the sound, and without turning around, she yanked the door open and disappeared through it. It closed with an audible click. "Wait!" he yelled, and he ran towards the elegant doors. He seized the handles and pulled with all his might, but they wouldn't budge. He felt a burning at the corner of his eyes, and he let out a yell of frustration. "No!" He pulled and pulled and pulled at the door, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get them to open.

...

Tamaki dreamed that he was standing in the second Suoh mansion. Above the mantle to his fireplace, a giant portrait was placed. In it was his friends, all grouped together for the moment the photographer would press the button and they would be immortalized forever. Haruhi was sitting in a rather ornate chair, looking at the camera with a bright smile, her hands on her knees and her face split with joy. Above her, he was gripping the back of her chair, and he could remember the joy he'd felt at that moment. It was only a few days after the France incident, and his friends had risked life and limb to go after him and bring him back. Kyouya stood next to him, his arms folded and an amused expression gracing his face. The twins stood in front of him, back to back and wearing identical looks of mischief, and Tamaki remembered the awful revenge prank they had executed a few minutes later on him. In front of him, Hunny held his hands behind his back, and his baby face was wide and grinning, looking the total part of an adorable Lolita. Mori stood behind them all, his tall presence protecting and shielding them from the cruel world. They all looked so happy.

He felt a presence next to him. He didn't look. "It's all your fault, you know," he heard Rasputin say.

"I know," Tamaki whispered, and he continued to stare at the portrait until the lines and colors blurred. When that happened, he woke up.

...

Tamaki opened his eyes and shot upright. His breath came in pants, and a cold sweat running down his face and sticking his pajamas to his body. He looked around the unfamiliar room in fear for a moment before he remembered where he was. Renge's mansion. He ran a hand down his face, and he felt a warm liquid running down his face. Tears.

Unable to just sit there any longer, he swung his legs out of the large Emperor sized bed and got to his feet. He walked to the magnificent window and stared out. He had forgotten how beautiful Paris was at night. The Eiffel Tower was just outside his window, and its light cast long glowing patched on the carpet of his room. Car lights and street lights stretched for miles around, and he could just see the Seine River, winding its way through the city. He felt a pang in his heart when he remembered who wasn't there to see it .

He head his door creak, and he slowly turned around. Mitsukini Haninozuka was standing on the threshold, and behind him stood Takashi Morinozuka, Kaoru Hitachiin, Hikaru Hitachiin, and Kyouya Ootori. Kyouya pushed his glasses up his face. "Our children couldn't sleep," the black haired teen said quietly, but Tamaki heard the slight hitch in his best friend's voice, and he knew that Kyouya hadn't been able to sleep either.

He gestured into the room. "Come in," he said with a tiny smile, but he knew that it had come much slower than usual. The group slowly entered the room. The twins sat against the side of the bed, their knees hugged against their chests, and Mori took a seat on the bed. Hunny leapt into his lap, and Kyouya collapsed into the armchair by the bed. They all stared out the window with Tamaki. There were no stars in the night sky that night, thanks to the City of Lights, but they could all see the bright white moon watching over the city.

Mori, surprisingly, was the one to break the silence. "I miss her," he whispered, barely audible.

"We all do," Kyouya said, and nobody was surprised at the heavy emotion that was in the Shadow King's voice.

Hikaru took a deep, shuddering breath. "You don't think that she's…" he trailed off, terrified of the overwhelming possibility. There was a few heart pounding seconds of silence.

"No," Tamaki said, he voice firm. He turned back to his family. "Unless we get proof, I will not consider the possibility. Haruhi has to be alive, and I will not believe otherwise."

Nobody in the room replied, but they all felt emboldened by the response. A little bit of their fear ebbed away at his words, and they felt their spirits rise. They all looked at the moon, comforted by the thought that although they were separated and although they couldn't see each other, they were all still standing underneath the same moon and the same night sky. And as long as that was the case, there was still hope.

Tamaki placed a hand against the glass. "We will find you, Haruhi," he breathed. "I promise.

...

Thousands of miles away, a nurse watched a young girl wake up. She had been stationed to watch the girl and wait for her awake. She silently thanked every god she could think of at that moment, for she had been warned that if the girl didn't awaken by morning, she would have to be killed. The new hospital administration didn't have room for those who would never wake up. The girl took a gasping breath and looked around in fear with unfocused eyes. The nurse remembered that the patient had been wearing contacts when she had been found, and she grabbed the pair of glasses that she had been given.

She held them out to the terrified girl. "Here you are." The girl looked at her with her wide, brown eyes, and she placed the lenses on her face, making her eyes seem even larger. They overwhelmed her face and paired with the bandages wrapped around her head, made her seem even more vulnerable.

"Where am I?" the girl asked in a raspy voice, and the nurse pressed a finger against her lips.

"Sh," she said gently. She passed her a glass of water. "Just rest for a moment. It seems like you took a pretty hard fall." The girl gently touched the bandages on her head and winced. The nurse took hold of her hand and placed it back against he sheets. "Hey now. None of that." She smiled at the small girl, and she took the clipboard from the nightstand and held her pen at the ready. "Now, let's get some information. First thing's first. What's your name?" When she heard no response, the nurse looked up. "Honey, didn't you hear me? What's you name?"

"I don't know," came the tiny, whispered response.

The nurses head shot up. "I beg your pardon?" she asked shocked and worried.

The girl shook her head, and tears began to run down her face, leaving track marks. "I don't know," she said again with a serious, deadpan stare.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all goes to Bisco Hatori and all the people who will sue me if I claim otherwise.

AN: 6/26 Thank you, everybody! Thank you so much for all the reviews and the favorite authors/stories, and all the hits, and all the alerts, and just everything in general! I'm so flattered. You guys are great. Also, I forgot to put down a translation last chapter for Tamaki's French, so here it is: "We left her. I can't believe we left her. It's all my fault. My fault." So there we are! Enjoy!

Chapter Five

Tamaki rolled over, trying to escape the sun shining down from the window. He could see it through his closed eyelids, bright red and _very _annoying. He should have closed the curtains last night. He was so tired. His legs felt like lead, and he thought that he wouldn't have the strength to move them at all. His whole entire body was aching, but none more so than that little organ in his chest. Every beat seemed to pull at the wound, stretching it taught, only making it hurt worse. Tamaki pressed his face into his pillow. He was so exhausted, and he didn't really want to get up today, but the sun was shining, and his mind was clearing despite his silent protests. He vaguely registered an irregular pattern of tapping, and he felt a weight on his skins accompanied by a tingling feeling down at his feet.

He opened his eyes and found himself face to face with a very small blonde boy. Tamaki reeled back, nearly falling off the bed before he steadied himself and looked at the boy. Hunny was lying in the middle of the bed, his thumb in his mouth and his arm curled around a small throw pillow. He looked so angelic in sleep, but his eyes were tight and rolling madly behind his closed eyelids. Tamaki let out the breath he had been holding and settled back down on his pillow and looked around. The rest of the club was on the overly large bed too. Mori was lying horizontally across the end of the bed, his long legs spilling over Tamaki's side of the bed. He slept on his back, his arms crossed over his chest as though he were lying in a coffin. Tamaki shivered at the image. Hikaru and Kaoru were lying next to the tall third year, and Tamaki realized that the weight on his legs was Kaoru's head, using his shin as a pillow. Next to him, but lying in the opposite direction was Hikaru, who was using Kyouya's legs as a pillow. The raven-haired boy was sitting upright, back against the headboard. His fingers pounded mercilessly against the keys on the keyboard.

"You're up early," Tamaki whispered over Hunny's head.

Kyouya shook his head. "It's 8pm in Tokyo right now. I'm just jetlagged."

Tamaki ran a hand through his hair. 8pm. They had already spent a whole day not knowing anything about Haruhi. He forced the thought away and instead said, "We've been asleep that long?"

Kyouya nodded. "And your son," he gestured toward Hikaru's head with annoyance, "is blocking off my circulation."

Tamaki gave give a tiny grin, but he didn't laugh. He understood why his best friend, who had avoided the familial ties that he'd been forging for two years now, was suddenly using them openly. Kyouya was just as shaken up about yesterday's events as the rest of them, and although he was now trying his best not to show it, Tamaki knew that the vice president was trying to find some solidarity, something real to connect with. And at that moment, that something just happened to be the Host Club.

He frowned at the laptop. "Where did you get that?" he asked pointing at it.

"The jet had one on it," was Kyouya's reply. The typing didn't slow down. "I decided to conduct some research on it."

Tamaki's heart rate started to pick up. He lifted himself to his elbows, and his voice rose a bit in his urgency. "Did you find anything on-" he trailed off as Hunny shifted in his sleep. He froze and stared at the little blonde boy, who groaned a bit before his body stilled. A small hand found the fabric of his pajama arm.

Kyouya's fingers careened to a halt on the keyboard. "Haruhi?" he whispered. Tamaki nodded, and Kyouya let out a heavy sigh. His voice was weighted as he spoke. "No. Not yet, at least."

Tamaki's face fell, and he lowered himself onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. An elegant chandelier hung above him, sunlight reflecting off its crystals and dancing around the room. It was kind of pretty, he thought absentmindedly, trying to keep the thought of Haruhi away from his mind. He'd surely cry if he allowed himself to think of her cute, short brown hair and her large eyes and her adorable bluntness and the way she smiled and her heart-stopping recklessness and her smart head crashing against the ground.

If only he hadn't been so stupid! If only he had just held on to her hand. He remembered her voice. "Don't let go!" Yet he had. He had dropped her. He had promised to always be there for her, and when it really mattered, he had let her fall. Oh, God, it was all his fault. All his fault that she had been left behind. All his fault that she had gotten hurt. All his fault if she had...

"Tamaki." Tamaki turned his head and realized that he had silent tears running down his face. He could taste their saltiness on his lips. Kyouya was staring intently at him. The boy leaned over Hunny until his face was inches away from Tamaki's, and he had no choice but to look through the lenses of his best friend's glasses and meet the obsidian eyes that smoldered with determination. His voice was intense as he said, "I will do everything in my power to find her again. If there is any chance that she is alive, I _promise _that I will take every shred of evidence and search this entire earth until we find our daughter again."

Tamaki stared at his friend in amazement. "Kyouya," he breathed in astonishment at the power in his friend's words. Suddenly a light yawn met his ears, and he and Kyouya simultaneously looked down at the small boy between them before hurriedly pulling away. Kyouya started typing again.

Hunny slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Good morning," he said in a light, sleepy voice. "Hm. I guess we all fell asleep in your room then, didn't we, Tama-chan?"

Tamaki laughed nervously and sat up, pondering the wonders of jetlag. To have calmed both AB bloods was simply remarkable. "It's all right, Hunny-senpai. I didn't mind."

Kyouya closed his laptop with a click and stood, tucking it under the crook of his arm. "Well, now that you're awake, Hunny-senpai, it would probably be best to wake the rest of them." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose walked out of the room. Tamaki stared after him until the door closed and turned back to the rest of the sleeping club.

"Well, senpai, I guess that means we're supposed to do that," Tamaki laughed, rubbing his hands together. He heard no response. "Senpai?" The door closed. Tamaki sighed.

It took several minutes to awaken the rest of the club. Once he had gotten them up and out of his room, it seemed a bit empty. He knew that his room back at the Second Suoh mansion was much larger, but he had never felt lonely in it.

Tamaki sighed and opened the large walk in closet that Renge had shown him last night before he had collapsed in his bed. Inside, suit jackets, button downs, and slacks lined the walls in their hangers, and sitting nicely folded on some of the shelves were various other articles of clothing including sweaters, undershirts, shoes, ties, and underwear. He absentmindedly chose a white button down shirt and a red sweater. They were the most comfortable looking out of all the clothing, and Tamaki didn't really feel like dressing up. He noticed with surprise that they all fit perfectly. Although he supposed it did make sense. Renge was the manager of the Host Club after all. She probably had their measurements somewhere, and based off of yesterday's reception, she had been working her staff to the bone until they had arrived. He remembered how they had arrived at the mansion at midnight (thanks to the Housakuji driver), and the entire staff had been awake and present, although more than a little bit tired. It was as though they hadn't gotten any sleep within the previous twenty four hours, which now that he thought about it, was probably the case. He chuckled a bit as he pulled on his shoes. Never disobey the Lady Meanager.

He left the room and closed the door behind him. Four identical clicks followed after that, and he blinked, seeing the rest of the club exiting their rooms at the exact same time. They all looked at each other and giggled nervously before starting to walk down the long, ornate hallways. Kyouya fell into step with him, while Hikaru and Kaoru fell into step behind them, and Mori and Hunny took the rear. Kyouya still had his computer underneath his arm.

"So where can we get some food around here?" Hikaru asked, his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah," Kaoru said, "I'm starving."

Tamaki spun around. He still felt rather sorry for the servants. "Doppelgangers! Don't be so rude! We're the ones who intruded and-" a loud rumbling interrupted him. He looked down at his stomach in dismay. It had never made that kind of a noise before. Maybe he was ill! Oh, God, he had never been sick before! His body was making odd noises!

"That's normal, Tamaki," Kyouya said in exasperation, having anticipated the approaching outburst. He addressed the rest of the club. "There should be some servants down stairs. Somebody will know where to get something to eat."

"Yay!" Hunny cried. "Cake!" But Tamaki noticed with worry that the small boy was a little too enthusiastic. He looked down at Hunny, watching him skip down the hallway. His smile was wide and reached his eyes, but it seemed a little bit pinched and forced. He rose an eyebrow at Mori, who caught his eye. The gentle giant nodded at him, and Tamaki smiled and turned around, knowing that he had gotten the message. Mori would take care of it. While he cared a lot for the third-year, he knew that the boy's cousin would be best for this. Those two seemed to understand each other on a deeper level. Mori knew Hunny better than anybody, and Hunny knew Mori better than anybody. It wouldn't be good for him to interfere unless they needed him to.

"I've conducted some research," Kyouya said, interrupting his musings. The club looked at the black-haired teen, giving him all their attention. "So far, I've been able to assess each of our financial standings and the welfare of the majority of our families."

The last part of the speech troubled them. "Erm, senpai?" Kaoru asked, tentatively.

"What do you mean by the _majority _of our families?" Hikaru questioned in the same tone. Both twins joined hands.

"Precisely what I said," Kyouya responded. They started to descend a massive staircase. A multitude a voices echoed throughout the lower levels. The club pondered those words. The majority of their families. That had to mean that some didn't survive. Was he referring to just Haruhi, or did he mean that there were more missing? Although Tamaki was an outcast in the Suoh family, he still hoped that they were all right. His mind leapt to a certain group of people.

"Kyouya, our servants!" he cried urgently.

Kyouya adjusted his glasses, hiding his eyes behind the glare. "I think it might be best if we eat something before I divulge that information," he simply said, but there was something in his voice that worried Tamaki. Kyouya was trying to avoid something.

Tamaki's brow narrowed. "Kyouya," he said, but his eyes widened in surprise as somebody else yelled "Kyouya!" at the same time he said it. The Host Club had reached the last landing of the magnificent staircase, which was coated with a red carpet leading down to the foyer of the house. And standing just inside the front door was…

"Father?" both Kyouya and Tamaki gasped at the same time, for at the end of the room stood two _very _familiar men. Yoshio Ootori and Yuzuru Suoh gazed up at them from the bottom floor. Their faces both displayed surprise and shock, and Tamaki was sure that he and his best friend looked exactly like their parents at that point. The four of them stared at each other.

"Well, isn't this interesting," Tamaki vaguely registered Hikaru saying.

"I daresay it is, dear brother," Kaoru answered.

Suddenly, light footsteps tapped against the outside steps. The silhouette of a small woman slowly began to appear, standing out against the brilliant French sunlight.

"Oh, no," Hunny whimpered, his smile falling from his face to be replaced by a worried expression.

"You've got to be kidding me," the twins muttered.

Tamaki's jaw dropped. "Grandmother?" he gasped, watching the old woman enter the house.

She had two bodyguards behind her, and the mansion doors closed with a boom, like an omen. Her grey hair was pulled back in an elaborate bun, and her pinched, cold face twisted with scorn as she raised her head to look at the group at the top of the staircase. Her upper lip curled, and her cold eyes narrowed as they locked on her grandson. "Oh, God, _you're _here?" she said, her voice riddled with disdain.

Tamaki saw Kyouya frown and take a step forward. "Yes, he's here," his best friend growled at the old woman.

"Kyouya!" Ootori scolded.

"Father!"

Another pair of quick, light footsteps echoed through out the foyer. Renge burst into the large space of no-man's land and looked around, turning her head back and forth in confusion. "Just what is going on in here?" her high-pitched voice demanded as she placed her hands on her hips.

Behind her, more footsteps followed. When the owner came into sight, Tamaki nearly fell on the floor. He felt Mori reach forward and grab his elbow to stable him, but he ignored the third year and stared at the woman before him. His felt a sharp ache in his chest at the sight of her. The long blonde hair that flowed down her back. The slim body, clothed in a simple pink dress. The pale skin and her violet eyes. His violet eyes. She looked up at him and covered her mouth, tears running down her face.

"Oh, my God," Yuzuru Suoh breathed.

"You're here too?" Tamaki heard his grandmother cry, but he ignored her. The two blondes just stared at each other

It took a few tries of opening and closing his mouth before he was able to speak. "M-Mother?" he choked.

...

The girl stared at the building in front of her. _If it can be called that, _she thought. _It's hardly a building. _The shack before her looked like it was falling apart. The shutters were practically falling apart, and graffiti marred nearly every surface of the dull gray exterior. The paint of the rickety wooden door looked like it had been worn away long ago. The roof didn't look very sturdy either, and there was no visible heating system from where she was standing. The gate swung with the wind, creaking ominously. Nailed against it was a sign that said "Orphanage 3."

The girl shivered in her light clothing. It was by no means fit for the snowy winter weather. She hugged her arms around her tighter and tucked her hands underneath her armpits. Her gloves were missing a few fingers, but that didn't really matter considering the material didn't provide much protection in the first place. She had a worn scarf wrapped around her neck and a second hand newsboy cap resting on her head. Her jacket was rather big for her, which might have been an advantage if it were not riddled with holes that let the frigid air enter and chill her body. The dress she wore was much too short, only reaching halfway up her thigh, and she thanked the powers that be that the nurse had been able to secure an extra pair of pants to wear underneath. The only decent item she had to protect her from the elements was the pair of shoes that the hospital had decided to keep from the outfit she had worn before she'd been admitted. Whatever that was. She closed her eyes trying to remember again but opened them as she heard footsteps.

The nurse walked up to her from the car, carrying her small bag. She knew that there were only a few outfits in there. That was all the hospital could spare. The nurse gave her a sharp nudge in between the shoulder blades. This one was much less nice than the one that had helped her the last few days. "Come on, now," the nurse said. "You can't stand there all day."

The girl looked up at the building again. "Kill me," she said faintly.

The nurse rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid." She gave the girl a harder shove, sending her stumbling in the direction of the building. "Now you remember you're name, yes?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Which one? The real one, or the one you gave me a minute to choose?" The nurse glared at her, and she sighed. "Rene." It was the first thing that had come to her mind when she had been pressed for a name in the hospital. She had to chose something, and Rene, although she _knew _that it wasn't familiar enough to be her name, had been something that she knew she'd heard before. It sounded like roses and happiness.

The nurse sighed. "Say it like you mean it at least. Do you want to go back to the hospital?"

"It looks much nicer than here."

The nurse slammed the bag into Rene's chest, and she staggered at the weight. "Come on." They walked through the rickety gate and up the chipped stone pathway. Rene looked around the lot. It really was a ramshackle place. She started when she saw a face in the window. It was a teenager that didn't look much older than her. The curtain dropped, and the boy's face disappeared. They reached the door, and the nurse knocked.

Rene took a deep breath. _Here we go. _The door opened, and she nearly took off running then. Standing on the threshold of the door was a filthy, dirty man. He appeared to be in his late forties with an unshaven face and bloodshot eyes. In his hand was an open brown bottle, and Rene didn't want to even think about what was inside that. His clothing was just as ragged as hers, but his had stains adorning it, and they looked like they had been put on with much less care. The man glared down at her and grunted. "Another one?"

The nurse gave her another shove, and Rene glared at her before entering the house. The inside was falling apart just as badly as the outside was, and it was rather filthy. Dirt was everywhere she looked. The first floor was tiny, with a small television resting upon a dark black table and a few mismatched chairs surrounding it. A walk in kitchen was cramped to the left of the room, and the sink was overflowing with bottles similar to the one the man held in his hand. There was a single door at the far side of the room, and to the right, a wooden staircase disappeared into a square whole in the ceiling.

_Kill me now, _she repeated silently.

As she looked around, the nurse and the caretaker continued talking. "So I guess nobody showed up for her at the hospital, eh?" the caretaker chuckled to himself as though it was something funny.

"Nope, and get this: she can't remember anything," the nurse whispered, and Rene rolled her eyes at the woman's "attempt" to be quiet.

"What, is she retarded?"

Rene spun around, annoyed. "You know, I'm right here." She suddenly felt something collide with the side of her face, and she stumbled. She clutched her face, knowing that there was a red mark adorning her cheek. Her mind was in shock. She had just been hit! The caretaker was standing in front of her, his drunken eyes mad and unfocused.

He took a sip from the bottle. "Yer to show some respect around here," he slurred angrily. He poked her hard in the shoulder. "You live under my house now, and you will follow all my rules if you don't want some more of that. Understand?" She glared at him, and he shook her hard enough to snap her head back. "Got me? Answer, girl."

She pulled herself out of his grasp and stood still for a few seconds before bowing her head. "Yes, I've got you," she growled.

The caretaker nodded in approval. "The rest of the kids are upstairs. Why don't you go make some friends?" he said, a chuckle in his voice that turned the nice comment into something mocking and mean.

Rene swung her bag over her shoulders and began to climb the staircase with her head held high.

"Quite the fancy pants, isn't she?" she heard the caretaker say with disdain before she disappeared entered the doorway.

Once she was out of sight, she leaned against the ugly, mustard colored wallpaper that coated the walls. This was going to be all kinds of fun. She carefully touched the place where she'd been hit and winced. That was going to bruise. _At least I know that I wasn't abused before I lost my memories," _she thought with a little bit of comfort. Such a action wouldn't have left her so shocked and so surprised if it was something that occurred often. She looked at her dirty, ragged surroundings with trepidation. There were holes in the ceiling. _And that this kind of place wasn't normal for me. _She let this comfort her for a moment.

She reached down her shirt and pulled the necklace out of her front. She squeezed the vase pendant, feeling its edges digging into her skin. It was still warm from being pressed against her chest. She closed her eyes and dug through her mind. _Where could I have gotten this? Who could have given it to me? _The information was there, she knew it. She could feel it as though it were hiding from her in a really obvious place. Like a math problem that seemed impossibly difficult, but after the first few difficult steps, the answer was easily attainable.

That was one of the strange thing about her amnesia. She remembered a lot, like the date, current events, and academic information. She'd realized that during the hospital when the nurses and doctors had been treating her, and she had been able to follow and understand everything that they said and did. After that, it had been easy to recall various pieces of information such as history, math, and language arts. The only things she had issues remembering were personal things. Where she'd come from. The people in her life. Who she was. Her name. Basically, everything that made up her past. She felt tears begin to spring up in her eyes, but she wiped them away furiously. This was not a time to feel sorry for herself. Her goal right now was to figure out a way to find her memories. Getting emotional wasn't going to help anybody.

Suddenly a door burst open, and her eyes opened wide at the sound. She quickly shoved the golden chain back in her shirt before turning to see the teenage boy from the window at the end of the small hallway. Behind him, kids of all ages were curiously looking through the doorway. He had mousey brown hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks. He had dirt all over his face, and his clothing was several sizes too small, stretching around his body, which Rene noticed was tall and muscular. He had small, rat-like eyes that glared at her underneath his bangs.

He looked her up and down, and Rene resisted the urge to wrap her arms around her body and shield herself from his gaze. She clenched her fists and raised her chin, looking at him right in the eye.

"Seems like we've got a new kid, Ern!" he called back into the room he had just exited.

Another teenager shoved his way through, and this one had a mixture of brown and blonde hair. Ern was much more wiry than the other boy, although he was just as filthy. His clothing was much loser around his frame, and he tossed an apple in the air and took a bite while he leaned against he wall. "Seems like we do, Jakkasu," he said around the mouthful of apple.

The one called Jakkasu walked over and circled her. He had terrible posture, all hunched over. "So, you've got a name girl?" he asked, and Rene noticed the leer in the boy's voice.

Rene looked at him coldly. "Rene." She bowed. She didn't want to, but something within her made her do so. _Hm. So I'm naturally polite, _she pondered. She straightened up. "And I would greatly appreciate it if you could please stop circling me like that," she said, ice in her voice.

Jakkasu threw his head back in laughter. It sounded like a barking dog. "She's a walking priss!" He turned back to Ern. "Look at her! Stands like a priss, talks like a priss, she's even prissy as a bitch!" Ern joined in on the laughter.

Rene rose her eyebrows. "I beg your pardon!"

"Ooooh," Ern mocked putting a hand against his chest in fake fear. "She begs our pardons, ohoho. Funny!"

"Let me tell you something, princess," Jakkusa said, crossing his arms. "I'm the head dog around here. Right after Biru down there. You met him, big drunk, sooner slap you around like the bitch you are than feed you? That's him, and I'm the favorite. So a little word of advice." He leaned in, and Rene struggled to hold her ground. "Please me, you get on my good side. Get on my good side, and you get on Biru's good side. Get on my bad side, and," he shrugged, "well, a pretty little priss like you wouldn't want that, eh? So…" he wrapped an arm around her waist. "what do ya say?" Rene felt him squeeze her butt.

She gasped and pulled away. "How dare you?" She raised a hand and slapped him. Barely a second after that, a hand shot out and grabbed her windpipe. She felt herself slam against the wall, and her hands grabbed the one holding her neck, trying to get it off.

Jakkusa leaned in. "You little bitch," he hissed in her face, and Rene nearly gagged at his foul breath. "You think you're so high and mighty because you used to be rich. But let me tell you, you're not in that little world anymore. So drop the high class manners and the 'I beg your pardons'," he sneered. "You wouldn't be here if you weren't exactly like the rest of us." He dropped her, and she fell to the floor gasping.

The rest of the kids had already left the hallway, and Jakkusa was nearly in the room when Rene gasped, "You're wrong." He turned around. Rene raised herself to her knees and looked at the boy with utter loathing. "I am _nothing _like you."

Jakkusa chuckled darkly. "Then tell me this, priss. What makes you so sure? You're wearing the clothes. You look the part. You have no money, and you were thrown here. Forgotten. You have no family. What makes you think that you're not just as filthy, if not more so, than the rest of us?"

Rene rose to her feet. "Because I do have a family," she said, raising her chin again. Inside, her mind was in overdrive. _Where did that come from? I have no family. _But something inside her told her that that was not the case. She felt like she was lying. _Or do I…_

Meanwhile, Jakkusa rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You're right. You're not like us. You're mentally retarded!" he guffawed as he entered the room where all the other children were getting ready for bed, and Rene felt her shoulders slump.

_So this is how it's going to be for awhile, _she mused as she too entered the room. It was no nicer than the rest of the house. In fact it was probably the worst room there. Along two walls were rows of mattresses that laid on the floor amid the dust. They were all old and torn and thoroughly disgusting. Rene saw an empty one at the far side of the room. She began to drag her tired body over there, when a foot stuck out, and she toppled face first into the dirty floor.

She heard laughter. "Sweet dreams, priss!" Ern laughed from his bed.

Rene picked herself off of the floor and straightened her dress before continuing on. When she reached the empty mattress, she dropped her small bag on the floor with a thump. A cloud of dust rose with it. She sat on the mattress, drawing her knees up to her chest. She hugged them and laid the side of her head on them, looking out the window. From her angle, she couldn't see any of the burning city or the tanks or the shoulders. All she could see was the bright full moon, which sent a large patch of silver moonlight through the window and across the wooden floor. She smiled a tiny bit despite the frigid cold that made her heart and bones ache. _I guess this is what they mean when they say silver lining, _she thought sleepily before she laid down and pressed the pendant on her necklace against her throat through the fabric of her chest. She could smell the faint scent of roses before she fell drifted off to sleep.


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Bisco Hatori and all the people that will sue me if I claim otherwise do.

A/N: 6/29, Thank you so much everybody! I'm so flattered for everything. I hope you enjoy :)

Chapter Six

Hikaru and Kaoru looked back and forth between Tamaki and the blonde woman. The woman that he had just called "Mother". They were still just staring at each other. Tamaki's stare was more from shock than anything. It was almost as though he had seen a ghost, and his mouth was hanging open, and his hands were shaking. Hikaru knew that the Boss had never expected to see his mother again, but she was there in the flesh. He felt a huge, wide smile spread across his face, and behind him, the rest of the club looked the same. They all knew that this had been one of their King's most desperate desires, and she was right there. Her eyes were fixed hungrily upon her son, and she focused on him as though looking at him for forever would be all that she could ever need or want.

She stepped forward and opened her arms. "Rene," she breathed, but the whole room could hear her. Her voice sounded like tinkling bells. "mon files cheri."

Tamaki's eyes widened. "Mere," was all he whispered, and tears began to swim in his violet eyes, and all of a sudden, he was bounding down the staircase. Hikaru saw Mesu Suoh turn away in disgust, but he ignored her as he and Kaoru grasped hands each other's hands and pulled each other close until their clasped hands were between their bodies. The rest of their friends were smiling in happiness, even Mori, who's face was generally blank and masked. Hikaru felt the sting of tears in his own eyes as he watched his friend sprint down the red carpet and throw himself into his mother's arms.

He was much taller than she was, so he had to hunch over to bury his face in her shoulder. Anne-Sophie's pale, delicate fingers gently combed through his hair for a second before they changed actions and just gripped it, holding her son's head against her shoulder. Her other hand wrapped around his body and gripped his shirt, holding on to it like a lifeline, like if she let go than she would surely die. Then slowly, the two bodies began to sink onto the ground as though all the emotion had sucked out their energy, and they were on their knees, their quiet sobs filling the room. "I thought I'd never see you again," the woman said in French, her voice filled with tears. It took Hikaru a few seconds to translate it, but thanks to the French class that Haruhi had forced him into, he was able to understand.

Tamaki laughed a little. "Moi aussi. Me too." He took hold over her cheeks and used the pads of his thumbs to wipe away her tears. "But here we are." He smiled his dazzling smile. "How is it that you're here?" he asked, as the tears continued to run down his face.

Anne-Sophie gave him a peck on the forehead and smoothed his hair. "Éclair. I've been working there as a maid for the last few years. When we heard about the invasion, she told me about your friend Renge and formally released me. I've been here since," she said with a smile just as beautiful as her son's.

Hikaru saw Kyouya move forward, and he and his twin followed. He heard Mori and Hunny fall into step behind them, and together, the club descended the staircase. Tamaki and Anne-Sophie looked up as they approached. Kyouya bowed. "It's such a pleasure to finally meet you, Madame Grataine. If I could please introduce myself-"

Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other with Cheshire grins before stepping forward and pushing Kyouya aside. The Shadow King stumbled a bit before finding his balance and glaring at them, but Hikaru winked. Touching scenes could only be entertaining for so long. They threw their hands in the air. "Grandmother!" they cried before falling to their knees on either side of Tamaki's mother and wrapping an arm around each of her shoulders. They both pecked the flustered woman's cheeks.

"I've never had a grandmother before!" Hikaru cried. This was so much fun.

Kaoru leaned in and excitedly said, "Now we've got somebody to spoil us! Mummy and Daddy are so cruel. They never let us do anything fun." He pouted, turning his face into his shoulder. The woman watched them with wide eyes and a very confused expression.

Tamaki stood up. His eyes were popping out of his head. "Evil twins! Get off my mother! So rude, so rude, so rude!" He shoved them off and took hold of his mother's hand, gently pulling her up.

"That's right!" the twins cried simultaneously. They both bowed with a flourish. "Allow us to introduce ourselves, madame."

Hikaru stepped forward and took her hand, kissing it. "Hikaru Hitachiin."

Kaoru stepped forward and did the same. "Kaoru Hitachiin."

"We're the favorite sons!" They released her and bowed again, facing her as Hikaru walked to the left and Kaoru walked to the right, which made room for Hunny to skip forward.

He took both of her hands, and Anne-Sophie had to bend forward a bit to accommodate for the boy's height. "I'm Mitsukini Haninozuka, but my friends call me Hunny!" he cried exuberantly. "So you're Tama-chan's mother! Now I see where he gets the eyes." He let go and gestured towards his cousin. "And this is Takashi Morinozuka! But we all call him Mori. You can too!"

Mori offered her a small smile, which the woman warmly returned. "It's nice to meet you," she said brightly in accented Japanese, taking their strangeness in stride. Hikaru grinned. He was liking her already.

Lastly, Kyouya stepped forward and respectfully bowed. "My name is Kyouya Ootori, the Vice President of the Host Club. It is wonderful to meet you at last," he smiled politely. "Tamaki has told us so much about you."

The woman smiled back at him and took Tamaki's hand. Tono looked elated. "I'm sure he has." Her warm gaze found each of them in turn. "It is so exciting to meet all of Tamaki's friends."

"That's enough," a sharp voice said, cutting through the happiness. Hikaru's face fell as though a bubble had popped. He and Kaoru spun around, as did the rest of the club to face the small woman still standing in front of the large doors. Mesu Suoh regarded each of them coldly until her gaze landed on her grandson and his mother. Anne-Sophie suddenly looked fearful, and Tamaki placed himself protectively in front of his mother. Kyouya silently placed himself on Tamaki's right in a show of loyalty, his eyes never leaving the Suoh matriarch. Renge joined him, while Hikaru and Kaoru stood on the King's left, and Hikaru glared fiercely at her. She always wanted to ruin things for Tono, but he wouldn't let her destroy this. She had separated Tamaki from his mother for far too long, and it would not happen again. Hunny stood directly in front of Kyouya, while Mori placed himself right behind Hikaru and next to Anne-Sophie, his shadow falling on both the woman and her son. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him in surprise before turning her gaze back to her rival. Yoshio Ootori stood off to the side, simply watching the proceedings, while Yuzuru Suoh stood awkwardly by his mother, his body language clearly showing that he wanted to be standing by his child, yet he didn't really have a choice. There were a few seconds of intense silence as they stared each other down.

Suddenly a door opened, and a middle aged man of medium height jauntily bounced into the room. "Oh, look, our guests are all here!" he cried joyfully until he noticed the defensive groupings. "Eh? Did I miss something?" he asked, frowning in confusion. "Renge?"

"This is unacceptable," the old woman stated, walking forward. Hikaru barred his teeth and leaned forward before Kyouya caught his eye. The young man shook his head almost imperceptibly and gave him the "this is only going to cause a bunch of trouble" look, and he settled for simply glaring at the woman. She stopped before the group, clearly not intimidated. "There was a deal, Miss Grataine, and certain ends of it must be upheld. You are clearly in violation right now."

Anne-Sophie made a noise of indignation. She gently pushed her son aside and stepped to the front of the group. "How can you be so coldhearted? My son could have _died _back there, and you expect me to not try to find him? To make sure he was even alive?"

"You gave up that right," Mesu Suoh drawled, "when you placed him in my care for money. When you _sold _him to me."

Yuzuru looked at his grandmother, surprised that she would say such a thing. "Mother," he said quietly

The blonde woman took a step back and put a hand over her heart as though the words had physically wounded her. There was a look of utter horror and guilt on her face, and Tamaki stepped forward, wrapping an arm around his mother's shoulders. "Grandmother, that was my choice! She had nothing to do with it," he cried.

"I offered the money, and she took it," the old woman said, raising her voice, and Hikaru wished for just one moment that he could take that old, surgically lifted face and bash it into the wall. "And you still need that money," Mesu added. "You're still sick."

Another hand found its way to Anne-Sophie's mouth, and silent tears were running down her face. It touched Hikaru's heart.

"If you leave now," the witch continued, "I will forgive this mishap. You may return to your home in peace and continue to receive the medical care that has been promised to you. If you stay, then I will remove all funding. Those are your choices."

"No, you can't!" Tamaki cried out in anguish. His voice took on a pitiful pleading tone that Hikaru wished he could block from his ears. He didn't want to hear his friend so desperate. "Please," he begged, "not now! Not after everything that's happened these past few days! Let her stay, please." He whispered the last word, bowing his head. Hikaru saw tears leak out of his eyes, wide and fearful.

That was the last straw for him. Before she could answer, Hikaru yelled, "You scheming witch!" The club looked at him in surprise, and Kaoru grabbed his upper arm to restrain him. His twin had to dig his heels into the tile as he pulled, trying to get closer to the woman. "How can you torture them like this?" he continued. "Giving them the choice between misery and death? You disgust me!"

The witch raised her neatly plucked eyebrows at him. "Unfortunately for you," she sneered, "your opinion doesn't matter." She turned back to the blondes. "You have five minutes to say your goodbyes. After that, security will escort you off the premises, Miss Grataine." She turned around and started walking again.

"Actually, I believe that there is some room for negotiation here." Kyouya stepped forward, and Hikaru saw the devious, clever smirk on his senpai's face. Everybody turned towards the Shadow King wondering what he was talking about. Ootori raised hi eyebrows, but otherwise did nothing to stop his son. He did give him a warning look though. Hikaru silently laughed. _Senpai doesn't need any warnings, _he thought. What ever the black-haired teenager was planning had already been plotted and analyzed to the nth degree.

Tamaki's grandmother turned around again, eyeing Kyouya like something silly and not worth her time. "Hm," she mused. "Kyouya Ootori. Your third son, isn't that right, Yoshio-san?" she asked, addressing the tall, clean business man to the side of the room.

"That's right, Mesu-san," Ootori answered, looking at his song. "Don't make a fool of yourself," the look said, and Kyouya's glasses flashed with the light.

The woman nodded. "Please inform your son then to not get involved in business that doesn't pertain to him," she said coldly.

"Ah, but you see, this is where you are incorrect, Suoh-san," Kyouya called lightly as though he were lecturing another fan girl about cherry blossoms. He raised a finger. "Your grandson is my best friend, which in turn, makes his business my business." A sly smile spread across Kyouya's face. "He is also your only heir, which under recent circumstances, is quite important, is it not?"

The woman sighed in exasperation. "Do get to the point, boy. I've got a meeting with your father and Housakuji-san, and you have only delayed us further."

Kyouya's smirk widened and became even more menacing. "I'll make this quick then," he said crossing his arms

"Kyouya," Tamaki hissed. He looked worried for his friend. "What are you doing?"

Kyouya just winked at him before continuing on. "While in the past, you have had some leverage due to the fact that Mademoiselle Grataine was ill, you have neglected to consider the consequences of Tojiwara's occupation of Japan. You see, you have been forced into a position where Tamaki is the only possible heir. It seems to me like you need him far more than he needs you." Hikaru nearly laughed. _He's enjoying this. _

Mesu Suoh regared him coldly. "That may be the case, Ootori-san," she said through gritted teeth, "but there is still the small matter of his mother." The small blonde woman blushed, but Hikaru caught her eye and grinned. Her brow furrowed in puzzlement as he refocused his attention on Kyouya. She didn't know their senpai like he did.

Kyouya shook his head almost mockingly. "Oh, don't think that I've forgotten about her. From now on, you will no longer need to fund Mademoiselle Grataine's medical needs."

Anne-Sophie's eyes widened even further, and Tamaki took an urgent step forward. "Kyouya, are you insane? She'll die!" he cried, waving his arms around.

Kyouya held up a hand to stop him. "You didn't allow me to finish." he said, his eye twitching in annoyance. Hikaru and Kaoru rolled their eyes simultaneously. _Moron. _"From this moment forth, Tamaki's mother will be receiving financial aid from a new source."

"And just who will that source be?" the grandmother demanded.

Kyouya pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "A recent investor. Perhaps you know of him? He goes by the name of KO." His eyes came into view, and he gazed triumphantly at the old woman.

Hikaru could feel the pressure of the laugh pushing against his chest at the sight of her face. It was so perfect! Everybody in the Host Club was well aware of who the actual KO was. It seemed like the Suoh matriarch didn't though, for her face was turning bright red, and she was starting to lose her impenetrable control.

"How in the world are you, the useless third son with no worth and no connections, going to get the newest, most successful business group on the market to help this French wench," she shrieked.

The AB Blood Evil Overlord chuckled. "Let's just say that I have my sources."

Mesu Suoh opened her mouth and closed it. Her eyes were popping out of her head, and she looked too furious to even speak. Monsieur Housakuji, sensing the danger, stepped forward. "Why don't we go ahead and proceed with our meeting," he said in a rather pathetic attempt to cheerfully ease the situation. He led the way to a pair of elegant double doors at the side of the foyer. Two servants eagerly rushed forward to open them for him, and he entered. Kyouya's father followed him, and before he entered, he looked back at his son with a cold look. Kyouya simply met his eyes and raised his head the slightest degree. The old man turned away and entered.

Tamaki's father gently laid a hand on his mother's shoulder. "Come on, Mother, or they will begin without us," he said quietly, and as he guided her, he looked back longingly at his son and former lover. His eyes were regretful and sad, but Hikaru rolled his eyes. The traitorous man had said nothing as his mother attempted to hurt his family. He didn't deserve his respect. Tamaki, though, gave him a nod and a slight smile, which the father gratefully took as he entered the room.

The she-witch, on the other hand, turned back around one last time. Her gaze found Kyouya, and she gave him one of the ugliest faces Hikaru had ever seen on a woman of her position. It was nasty and demeaning and full of hate. It surprised him because aristocratic women were usually all about upholding appearances, but Mesu Suoh had shed all of that. Her upper lip curled as she hissed in a snakelike manner, "You will regret this, Ootori."

Kyouya simply looked at her unaffected, and he nodded at her in a silent "Bring it on." The woman spun on her heel and left the room with her head held high. The doors closed with an ominous boom. There was a few seconds of silence.

Suddenly, Renge said. "Host Club 2, Conniving Villain zip."

Immediately, Hikaru and Kaoru started laughing. They gripped their stomachs, bending over double. Hikaru even had tears forming in his eyes. "Way to go Kyouya-senpai!" he cried out, wiping away the tears.

Next to him, Kaoru extended a fist. "That was brilliant!"

Kyouya rolled his eyes at the childish action, but he good naturedly bumped the twin's fist as Hunny said the a large smile, "That was impressive, Kyou-chan!" Mori nodded

"It wasn't much," Kyouya protested, but there was a certain glint in his eye that showed that he was actually very proud of what he had just done.

"Kyouya." The club faced Tamaki who was holding his mother's hand. He had a dumbfounded expression on his face, as though he couldn't believe what had just happened. He looked at Kyouya in awe, his eyes wide and his mouth wide open, but there was a bit of love in there too. The platonic kind, of course. Hikaru could understand that. Kyouya had just risked everything for the Boss. Tamaki made a noise like he was going to speak, but Kyouya raised a hand.

"Stop."

"No, but I-"

"Stop," Kyouya repeated again, a bit firmer this time. A small, genuine smile was on the Shadow King's face.

Tamaki opened his mouth again to speak, but Kaoru cut across him. "Jeez, milord, he said that it's fine. Take it already."

Tamaki closed his mouth again and smiled. "All right, all right." He slung an arm around his best friend's shoulders. "Let's go get something to eat, I'm starving."

Renge laughed and showed them to the dining room. "Oh, I could have eaten three whole bowls of rice with all of that! Except for the starving comment…"

….

Thousands of miles away, a man was on his knees. He had tears running down his face, which was twisted into an expression of anguish. "Please," he beseeched in a mangled voice. "We've done everything that we were supposed to do. We took the school, we killed the kids."

"Yes," a voice said from the shadows, "but you didn't kill the right kids. Because of your _idiocy," _he shouted at the last word, "they escaped." The hooded man stepped out of the shadows and looked down at the man cowering on the ground.

"Please, sir," he said. "It will never happen again."

There was a pause

"No," the standing man said gently. The other man raised his head in disbelief, but there was pure happiness on his face. He looked relieved. "It will not happen again."

There was a sudden movement, and a gurgling scream filled the air. The man collapsed on his back, a glinting knife protruding from his chest. The ex-soldier twitched for a few seconds and fell still, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

"Now, now," another much lighter voice said, "was that really necessary?" Rasputin stepped out of the shadows. His long hair had been chopped into a much more professional style, and he was wearing an elegant black Italian suit. He stuck out a leather clad boot and prodded the dead man's head. He tutted. "You can't just murder military personnel when it suits your whims, you know."

The hooded man threw off his hood to reveal Gomon Shi. He walked to a table that had a bottle of wine and a few glasses. He filled two of those glasses to the brim, and he handed one of them to Rasputin, who gladly accepted. "He had a single order, and he failed. If I am going to be running the military operations in Japan during this occupation, than I should have the most able men working of me. Mediocrity or failure to carry out orders is unacceptable."

Rasputin took a calm sip of his drink. "It seems to me," he drawled, "that you're more irate about losing the teenagers than the man's inadequacies."

Gomon clenched his jaw and set his drink back on the table. "They've left the country," he growled. "They've _won." _He banged his fist on the table and then swept the bottle of wine and his glass clear off of it. They toppled to the ground, shattering on impact. The red wine splattered like blood, staining the white table cloth and the wall. It slowly began to expand outward on the floor.

Rasputin shook his head and groaned. "That was good wine," he complained, taking another sip of his.

"It doesn't matter," Gomon said, turning around. "You have plenty more of it." He started pacing, his shoes crushing the shattered glass into even smaller pieces. "I can't touch them in France," he muttered.

Rasputin put a finger to his chin. "And you're fairly positive that they are all in France?" he inquired.

"Very."

Rasputin sighed and snapped his fingers. A servant came forward with a mop and broom and began to clear up the mess. "Well, you're just going to have to keep your eyes peeled then," he said. "They didn't seem like the most intelligent group of kids. You might get to prove your victory yet." With that, they both left the room.

….

_I have to admit, _Hikaru thought, _Paris is kind of beautiful. _He drew his knees against his chest and looked down from the roof top. The Seine River wound around the busy town. He could see the Eiffel Tower from where he sat, pointing to the cloudy grey sky. A gentle snow was falling from that sky, covering everything in sight. A few flakes landed on his nose and melted there. He shivered, and suddenly, bells rang out around the city. He turned in the direction of the Notre Dame Cathedral, which he could just see to his left if he craned his neck. The deep tolling sounded a lot like the clock tower at Ouran, and for a moment he felt homesick.

"Any room?" a voice called from a little bit below him, and Hikaru looked down from his perch. Kaoru was leaning out of a window, looking up at him. Hikaru grinned.

"If you can get yourself up here!" he called, waving him on up. He watched Kaoru lithely stand on the window sill and grab hold of the wrought iron ladder that scaled the length of the building. Hikaru thought it might be there to make things easier for the Housakuji chimney sweep. Their mansion was rather high.

Kaoru reached the top of the ladder and crawled onto the roof and towards his brother, careful not to harm any of the ceiling tiles. When he had reached him, he sat down, pulling his knees into his chest, much like his brother. The bells were still ringing, echoing all around the city. Hikaru was surprised at how loud they were.

"You know, everybody was pretty worried about you. We couldn't find you," Kaoru said, not looking at him.

Hikaru rolled his eyes, but he felt a little bit guilty. "Sorry," he said grudgingly, and Kaoru nodded.

"You need to be more careful," he said gently. "People are going to get more worked up and scared for awhile. Running off is only going to make things worse."

Hikaru sighed. "I know, I know."

The brothers sat in silence, and Hikaru knew that his twin was thinking about the same thing he was. Haruhi would have liked the view. Hikaru closed his eyes, remembering the previous meeting. Kyouya had been unable to find anything about Haruhi or her father. Nearly everybody else was accounted for. The twins mother had been forced into serving the new regime, running the cloth work factory, and his father had been able to evade the Tojiwarans and join the resistance, which surprised Hikaru. His father had always seemed so _spineless. _Joining Mr. Hitachiin were the entire Haninozuka and Morinozuka families. Yasuchika had been heavily injured during the Ouran invasion, but he would live. Everybody in Tamaki's family had been able to escape, and they were in France, but Hikaru knew that the Boss was worried about his servants, which had been forced along with his mother into servitude under the new regime. All of Kyouya's body guards had been forced down the same path. Kyouya's father had, of course, escaped, and luckily, his sister had been in London with her husband at the time of the invasion. The only other people missing were Kyouya's older brothers, who had disappeared without a trace. Kyouya hadn't seemed very worried about them. Hikaru knew that he didn't want either of his brothers to die, but they could hardly be called close. The only reason they were even on a first name basis was the fact that they were related. They were practically strangers, so the main concern to him and the rest of the club was Haruhi.

Hikaru blew out a breath of air, watching it as it came out clouded and foggy.

"Kyouya-senpai's father tried to make him come to their French mansion with him," Kaoru said absentmindedly.

Hikaru snorted. That had been rather pointless. "And what did he say when he refused?"

Kaoru laid back on the roof tiles, crossing his arms behind his head. His green eyes looked up at the grey sky. "Oh, the usual. Disownment, never getting control of the company, the shame, blah, blah, blah."

Hikaru chuckled. "Still thinks he can threaten senpai, eh?" He copied his brother, laying down on the roof. He slid his eyes sideways to look at him. "Kyouya-senpai could probably take over the whole company by now. I don't know why he doesn't just get it over with. It'd shut his dad up."

Kaoru shook his head. "I don't think he wants it anymore."

"Since when?" Hikaru raised himself up with his elbows. "He's been trying to get a hold of that for years. I wouldn't be surprised if he was studying how to conduct a hostile takeover in preschool."

Kaoru giggled at the image, and then he sobered up. Hikaru looked at his brother with concern as his eyes found the snow covered city. "Well, he's got a lot on his mind now, hasn't he?" he murmered, and Hikaru felt his heart tug. That's right. They had to find Haruhi before they could think of anything.

Hikaru thought of the Boss's grandmother, glaring at him as she left the mansion. "What about Tono?" he asked.

"What about him?"

"Well, he is the heir now," Hikaru said. He started picking at a stray string on cuff of his large winter overcoat. "What do you think his story is?"

Kaoru gave a small smile. "I don't think we have to worry about him leaving. He was the one that drew us all together, after all."

"Didn't stop him before," he muttered bitterly. He could feel Kaoru looking at him in concern, and he turned his head away, but he knew it was useless. Kaoru was always able to tell what he was thinking.

"I don't think he would ever do that again. Not after last time," Kaoru said gently. Hikaru didn't look at him and turned his attention to the city before him. He felt a hand grip his. "And you don't have to worry about Hunny-senpai or Mori-senpai either. Nobody's going anywhere."

Hikaru bit his lip. Spot on as usual. "But how do you _know_?" he asked his brother.

He heard a smile in Kaoru's face. "Because it's already turned into a pumpkin, but we're all still here."

Hikaru looked at him sharply. Kaoru did look pale. He yanked off his glove and pressed his hand to his brother's forehead. Kaoru flinched at his cold touch. "You're warm."

"You're hands are freezing! Of course my head is warm."

Hikaru frowned and stood up, offering a hand to his twin. Kaoru took it, and he pulled him up. He looked him up and down. "Stop talking crazy then," was all he said as he turned around and carefully walked to the iron ladder, his brother right behind him.

….

Rene dreamed. She shivered violently, pulling the fabric of the thin jacket tighter around her cold body. She looked around and groaned. She was back in that strange castle without the light. It's Neo-Gothic architecture encircled her, making the place all the more scary with the darkness. The shadows seemed so much darker and so much bigger here, and Rene hated it. And she was so_ cold. _So cold, so cold. And it always felt like somebody was watching her. Wherever she walked in this building, she had the feeling that somebody in the shadows was spying on her, waiting. It made the hair stand up in the back of her neck, but whenever she looked around, nobody was there.

Her footsteps echoed as her feet hit the marble tile. The sound was ominous, filling her with even more fear. There had to be a way out of here. She didn't care if she had to go outside into the storm clouds. She was just didn't want to be on her own in this strange, haunting building anymore. She wanted to be home. But where was home anymore? Did she even have one?

Suddenly, she heard another pair of quick footsteps. They were quick and heavy, smacking against the ground as they ran in her direction. She felt her blood run cold, and her stomach flopped. It had to be the thing that was watching her! And suddenly, she was more scared than she had been in the building. She began to run too, pumping her arms and moving her legs. Icy fear took hold of her. Her dress and jacket billowed behind her as she ran, and her breaths came in deep, desperate gasps. _NonononoNO! _

The footsteps behind her were becoming louder, and Rene sped up. She couldn't let that thing catch her! The adrenaline was coursing through her veins now, and she used it to power her full out sprint down the hallways. She rounded a corner, looking for an escape, something, anything! She didn't want to die, she didn't!

She burst through a pair of wooden doors, and suddenly she was at the top of a magnificent staircase covered with a red carpet. She heard the footsteps behind her, and without hesitation, she bounded down the staircase, taking several steps at time. Her hand gripped the railing, and if she hadn't been holding on to it, she would have fallen and tumbled down the stairs several times over. Her long hair was blowing from under her cap. She went down one flight and another, and the footsteps were still behind her.

She reached the bottom of the staircase and stood at the bottom of a large hall. Little grotesque statues were glaring at her as she ran past them, but she paid the marble pieces no heed. There was a pair of large double doors in front of her, and she knew that this was her chance. She shoved them open, not stopping, and she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder as it slammed into the wood. She clutched as she ran over the threshold and into a large, elegant garden. The clouds still hung over the sky, but her fear for them were miniscule to her terror for the thing chasing her. Topiaries and flowers of the most elegant kind were artfully placed all across the ground to complement each other. She ignored them, but she felt a sense of relief at the sight a few meters before her.

_Labyrinth, _a voice in her head said, and although she didn't know how she knew that, she put on an extra burst of speed and ran into the safety of the rose hedges. She took a few turns, trying to lose the thing behind her until she could no longer hear the footsteps. She paused, looking around. Pressing her back against the green shrubs, she held her breath, listening with all her might. There wasn't a sound, and she exhaled in relief.

_Thank, God, _she thought, and she took the time to look around. Everywhere she looked, she was surrounded by hedges nearly twice as tall as she was. She tilted her head back to see the top of them. They were so high. She probably wouldn't be able to climb to see where she was. A newer kind of dread filled her, and her eyes widened. She had no idea where she was.

A clock chimed in the distance, and it's loud gongs seemed to harmonize with her fear, increasing her anxiety. How could she have been so stupid? She looked right and left, trying to decide where to go. She took a deep breath and chose right simply because it was the closest path to her from where she was standing. She started walking calmly in that direction.

She didn't know how long she followed it. It felt like hours though. Soon her legs were beginning to get heavier, and her head was slightly dizzy. Her never ending exhaustion didn't help matters either, and she was worried that if she didn't find her way out soon, she would collapse. It was still freezing. She closed her eyes for a little bit, following the path by dragging her hand along the hedge. Just a little bit to rest her tired eyes…not long…

Suddenly she felt her stomach swooping, and she opened her eyes to see the ground quickly coming closer. Surprised, she threw out her hands, breaking her fall. Mud and grass squished between her fingers, and she felt a few new scratches on her palms. She slowly rose to her feet and gasped at what she saw.

Right in front of her was a small, but lovely little stone gazebo. It was tucked inside the large hedge, and it was covered with rose vines that even reached to the top of the circular dome. It had to be the prettiest thing she had seen while in this place.

"You know, looking's no fun," a deep voice said behind her. Rene felt her heart skip a beat at the sound of it, and she spun around.

The owner of the voice was a boy, not yet a man. He was tall, much taller than her, and he had bright blonde hair that looked _so familiar _and fell into his face with gentle waves. He was dressed in really old fashioned attire like a Western gentleman plucked from an 18th century text book. He wore a black overcoat and pants, and his vest was a bright white that stood out nicely against his dark purple undershirt. Rene looked in puzzlement at the mask that hid his face from her. It was one of those that rich people wore to magnificent masquerade balls with sparkles and feathers and a few beads. It was white too, but what disarmed and surprised Rene the most was the smile. It was a dazzling, bright white smile that showed all his teeth. She could feel its warmth hit her almost like a ray of sunshine. And he seemed so familiar. She could have sworn that she'd seen him before, but she couldn't put her finger on it…

"Who are you?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

The teenage boy chuckled. "Well, who are you?" he asked, and his smile grew wider, if that was even possible.

Rene was taken back by the question. She opened her mouth about to reply "Rene," but something stopped her. It didn't feel right on her tongue, and it felt like she was about to tell an awful lie. Instead she looked the boy right where she thought his eyes are. "Would you believe me if I told you that I wasn't quite sure?" she asked. She felt like an idiot.

The blonde boy held out a hand with a flourish. She gently took it. "What if I told you that I did?"

Rene felt herself smile too. She was all of a sudden feeling much less cold. She still had goose-bumps, but she was no longer having violent shivers, and her teeth were no longer chattering like mad. "I'd be very happy."

The boy laughed, and it sounded like tinkling bells. "Come on, sit down!" he said, eagerly leading her to the small rose gazebo. He let her enter first, and she slid onto the seat, scooting to make room. The boy slid in too, and he turned his face to her, his mouth still stretched in that goofy grin. He frowned though as he looked at her, and Rene's smile fell too. What was wrong. The boy cautiously reached out his hand and touched her face. She closed her eyes at the touch, but then she winced in pain. She opened her eyes to see the boy quickly withdraw his hand. "I'm sorry," he said earnestly. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Rene carefully touched her cheek. It was still tender and hurt a bit. She realized that it was probably bruised, and now that the boy was a bit closer, he could see it. "It's okay. _You _didn't hurt me," she whispered.

The boy bit his lip. "Who did that to you?"

Rene turned her head to the side, trying to hide it from him. She was ashamed about the bruise. "It doesn't matter," she muttered into her shoulder.

His fingers gently took hold of her chin and turned it to face him. Rene looked into the mask. "It matters to me," he breathed, his voice floating over her, pleading.

She sighed. "A pig named Biru," she said, and the fingers on her chin squeezed a little bit before releasing her. She looked at him confused as he laid his hand back onto the table.

"He should be punished for doing that to you,' he growled angrily, and Rene was touched that he felt anger on her behalf.

She laid her hand on top of his and smiled. He looked at their hands and back at her face. "You don't need to worry about it," she said. "It's fine."

It took a few seconds, but the boy's smile came back. He turned to her, his grin reaching his ears. "Okay."

Suddenly, the clock tower began to chime again. It rang out across the castle grounds, and it was really loud to Rene's ears. The boy pulled a gold pocket watch from his waist coat. "Midnight," he said, standing up.

Rene's eyes went wide, and she watched the boy exit the gazebo in shock. She snapped out of it though and slid from her seat, tumbling out of the gazebo. "Wait!" she yelled, even though he was only a few feet away. Her breath came in pants, and her heart was beating erratically in her chest. He turned back to face her. "Where are you going?" she cried, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She didn't realize how much she liked sitting next to him until he'd started to leave. He made this world less scary and a tiny bit warmer. When he'd walked away though, she had felt all the freezing air come rushing back, and now she was chilled to the bone again, her toes going numb in her shoes. When he didn't answer, she resorted to begging. "Don't leave me. Please."

The boy smiled sadly at her. "Oh, you don't need to worry about that." He pulled the white rose from his button and held it out to her as he bowed. She took it and looked at him sadly. The boy straightened up. "I'll be with you," he said quietly. He took his hat off and bowed again before turning around and exiting the maze, leaving her standing there.

And Rene woke up.

...

Well, that's it for now guys. Let me tell you, I am sooo happy that these last 2 chapters have finally finished. I hate it when it feels like I'm not writing anything exciting, but unfortunately, it needs to be done for everybody to understand the story. I'm so excited for the next chapter. Let's just say that things get even more exciting, heehee. Stay tuned! And just PM me if you have any questions or got confused. I may or may not answer them depending on the question :)

The French:

"Rene, mon file cheri" Rene, my darling son.

"Mere" Mother.


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all goes to Hatori Bisco and all the people that can sue me.

A/N: (7/7) Wow, it's been awhile. Sorry! I got bored and decided to take a couple of dual enrollment classes at the community college for funsies and found that they stole a bunch of my time. I'll try to move faster though. But thanks to everybody for everything! Things are gonna get a little bit interesting. Btw, there's a flashback or two in there. I hope you don't get confused.

Chapter 7

_Warmth, warmth, more warmth! for we are dying of cold and not of darkness. It is not the night that kills, but the frost.- Miguel de Unamuno_

The sun beat down on the girl in front of the ramshackle building. To others, the heat was excruciating, but she could feel none of it. She couldn't feel the sweat pouring down her back or the burn forming on her brow. All she could feel was a bone-chilling cold that penetrated her, violated her. Her small, dirty hands pulled at the endless army of weeds, and the bruises all over her arms screamed in protest. She ignored them though. She was used to it.

A crow cawed above her, and she turned her face towards to sun, using one of her matchstick arms to shade her eyes. She smallest of all smiles crossed her face.

….

The sun gently illuminated the city with a graceful light. It warmed two pairs of identical faces, which looked down from the Houshakuji roof to the multitude of buildings and the swarming crowds of people. Identical frowns marred their faces.

Kaoru slid his eyes sideways to look at his brother. Sensing his brother's gaze, Hikaru did the same. "They're going to get worried about us," Kaoru whispered, as though afraid of breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Hikaru responded, and he laid his head against his drawn up knees, still facing his twin. It was almost like looking in the mirror. The same pale exhausted features that battled against the summer sun. Over the last several months, they had spent a lot of time on top this roof, but the UV rays couldn't penetrate their skin cells. A lack of sleep fought back any healthy tan that they might have had. The dreams…Hikaru pushed them from his mind. He didn't want to think about the images that haunted them every evening. The images that he knew were haunting the entire club. He groaned feeling the beginning pangs of an approaching headache.

A hand fell on his, squeezing it. He blinked, and Kaoru turned his attention back to the city, and he did the same. The sparkling river, the happy chatter of the people, the tall structure of the Eiffel Tower, the sun hanging over it all, shedding its warmth and light. Summer at its finest. Hikaru sighed. It had never looked uglier.

….

The sun reflected against the large fountain in the courtyard, sending diamonds scattering against the cement structure. They danced as the water gently churned, and a small blonde boy was lying on the cement bench that encircled it. The only noise was the sound of falling water, and the small boy sighed heavily. His eyes followed the bits of light dispassionately. He could feel the heat of the sun on his forehead, and he wiped some of the sweat away from it with the back of his hand. He remembered wistfully what he had been doing at this time last year. It had been summer, and he and the rest of the club had been at Karuizawa, competing in Misuzu-chi's "refreshing" contest. The echoes of their laughter bounced around in his brain, and he sighed again. Things were so much different now…

"Mitsukini," a deep baritone voice said, interrupting his musings. A dark shadow suddenly appeared, blocking out the sun and dousing him in shadow. A slow smile made it's way across the blonde's face.

"Takashi," he said, and he straightened into a sitting position and patted the space next to him. The gentle giant took the offered seat, and the two cousins sat in silence for a few minutes. Hunny could still hear the ghosts of their laughter. He turned his face up to the sun. Its brilliance etched itself into his irises.

A strong hand pushed down on his head, and the sun disappeared from his vision. He looked at his older cousin in confusion. "It's bad for your eyes," Takashi said, turning his attention back to the brown cobblestones on the ground.

Hunny blinked and then smiled. "I know." He turned his face back upwards, this time making sure that he wasn't looking directly at the bright white orb in the sky, and he wondered whether Haruhi was looking at the same sight.

….

The sun drifted into the room, casting square patches of light on the carpeted floor. At first it seemed peaceful, but then there was a crash as a heavy object was hurled against the wall, and a dark brown liquid started to stain the white carpet.

Anne-Sophie looked at the growing stain in surprise and shock, still holding the elegant tea tray. Tamaki put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around. "Don't mind him, Mother," he whispered in her ear. "He isn't trying to be rude."

The blonde woman turned her face to look into her son's, and Tamaki could only imagine what she saw there. The bags beneath his red-rimmed eyes, the exhaustion. He felt her hand touch his cheek. "You all need to take better care of yourselves," she gently admonished in her bell like voice. She sounded concerned, and for a moment, Tamaki felt guilty.

He smiled, trying to reassure her, and he kissed her forehead. "Oui, Maman," he said before spinning her around and nudging her out the door. It closed behind her, and Tamaki groaned quietly before turning back to his best friend.

Kyouya was hunched over his laptop, his face haggard and exhausted. The blonde teenager noted with concern that his friend looked like a raccoon with his baggy eyes. He knew that the raven-haired teenager had been up all night again, searching for information. The entire room was covered with paper, anything and everything that could be useful. Maps hung on the wall, notes, pictures of a girl at all ages. A girl with the biggest brown eyes…

"Six months," a hoarse voice said. Kyouya took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Six months, and I haven't found _anything._" His voice rose at the last word, turning frustrated and angry. He stood and was still for a moment before snatching his stapler from his desk with a quick, manicured hand. Tamaki watched the object fly against the wall and bounce off of it, landing right next to the shattered coffee cup. There were a couple of tense moments before his best friend wiped a hand down his face. "I'm sorry, Otou-san" he said, the usual emotional coolness back in his voice. "I don't know why I did that." He turned his back to his friend to look out the window, and Tamaki couldn't see his face.

He walked forward and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's okay, Okaa-san." he said gently. "I know."

….

The sun temporarily blinded him as he stepped off the train. Ryojji used one of his arms to shade his eyes as he looked up at the bright European sky. _She would have liked this, _he thought, watching the clouds drift lazily across the blue sky. The bright white orb seemed to tremble, and he sighed heavily. He was just so tired…at least it would end today.

He stepped off the platform and left the station, walking into the street. He could feel the stares of all the people. They followed him in every direction he went, watching him. He knew he looked different. He'd caught a glance of his reflection in the train window during the trip. He looked broken. His hair had been shorn much shorter into a shaggy cut, and he no longer wore makeup. New wrinkles had etched themselves upon his face, and he had taken on a gaunt appearance, having lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. But the biggest difference was his eyes. His eyes looked dead even to him, and he simply exuded despair. Once he would have cared about that, but looks were so irrelevant now. He didn't deserve to look happy or beautiful or healthy. He didn't deserve to live. He wouldn't have to much longer. He just had to find them and complete his mission. It's what she would have wanted.

A passing officer looked at him suspiciously and changed course, jogging over. Ryojji stopped and looked at the man indifferently. "Excuse me, sir," the police man said, "but can I help you?" The man narrowed his eyes at him, and Ryojji nearly snorted. The man thought he was a street bum, marring the beautiful city with his very presence. In fairness though, the dirt and holes in his clothing didn't exactly scream decent society. He might make the tourists nervous. Whatever.

Ryojji almost rejected impatiently, and he opened his mouth to do so, but then he paused. Maybe the man could help. "As a matter of fact, you can," he said, his voice hoarse. The police man leaned closer to hear him. Ryojji took a deep, shaky breath. "How might a man find the Houshakuji residence?"

The police man's brow furrowed. "Why would you need to know that?" he demanded.

"Pardon me," a voice interrupted in Japanese. Ryojji turned around to see a Japanese man standing in front of a limousine. His slightly graying hair was neatly combed, and he hadn't seen a suit so expensive in months. The light reflected against he man's square glasses, and Ryojji felt a shiver run down his spine. Sitting in the limousine with the window rolled down was another man with brown hair and an expensive white suit. That man looked at him curiously, and Ryojii couldn't help but feel like they were rather familiar in some way. He knew that he had never met them before, but they reminded him of two people that he knew.

The man with the glasses pushed them up his face with his middle finger and smiled slyly. "I believe that I may be of assistance."

….

"Rene!" a gruff voice called out, and the girl winced from her crouched position on all fours above the weeds. A foot came out of nowhere and knocked her over onto her side before a hand stretched out and seized her wrist, pulling her to her feet. The greenish brown grass and the blue sky blurred as she was spun around, and her back was slammed into a wall. Another hand reached out and took hold of her thin neck, pinning her against the brick. Rat like eyes came into her vision, and Jakkusa's face was inches away from hers, blocking out everything else from her vision.

The boy smirked at her. "Hey, priss." And suddenly foul lips were pressed against hers, and she squeezed her eyes so tightly shut that little white sparks started dancing behind her eyelids. Her arms hung uselessly at her sides as his tongue abused her mouth like it did everyday. She mentally cringed, but forced herself not to move. _Don't do anything, _she reminded herself forcefully. _Just stand there. _She had learned very quickly that resistance held consequences. One black eye and a broken wrist had taught her that very quickly. She stubbornly refused to respond, however, and she thanked every deity that she could think of that he never violated her further. His hands always stayed on her wrists and neck, and his mouth never moved from her face. Of course this was all part of the bastard's little routine. He liked the girls he tormented to initiate the action themselves. It made it all the more humiliating for them, and it kept him out of trouble. Her heart beat began to speed up with dread as Jakkusa sighed against her mouth. And here came the rest of his routine.

The bastard pulled away, and his hand traveled from her neck up to her hair. He pulled it fiercely, nearly drawing tears to her eyes, but she forced them away. He liked to do that now that it was longer. He hadn't done it several months ago when it was short, but now that it reached past her shoulders, he seemed to find it funny. She glared up at him, her face full of loathing and disgust. The boy smirked evilly and winked. "So, priss," he said in cocky, suggestive tone of voice, "is tonight going to be your lucky night?"

Rene closed her eyes and opened them, drawing on whatever courage she had. _Don't do it, _a voice in her head warned her, but she once again ignored it. She spat in the bastard's face. Jakkusa jumped away from her, yelling curses as he wiped his face. "Drop dead," she said firmly, clenching her fists, but on the inside she was panicking. Why oh why had she done that? Things were going to get much worse now.

Her prediction came true when a hand came out of nowhere, and she threw her hands up in a fruitless attempt to block the blow before a fist came crashing into her skull. She fell to the ground and immediately curled into a fetal position and covered her head, anticipating his next move. A heavy foot slammed into her stomach, and she cried out in pain. Tears began forming in her eyes, but she didn't raise her head.

Heavy footsteps started walking away, their thuds reverberating through the ground beneath her ear. "Maybe tomorrow, eh, priss?" he laughed. There was a soft crack, and Rene cringed at the sound. Jakkusa tutted. "Oh, dear. Whatever did you do to these tools? Biru is going to be so _angry _with you."

Rene immediately rose to her hands and knees. Her eyes found the broken wood to the gardening tools lying in the grass. She stared at them in horror for a few seconds before turning to Jakkusa. "You bastard!" she yelled, and the boy just left laughing. His guffaws only made her even angrier, and she wanted more than anything to take the head of the broken spade in her hand and chuck it at his dirty, brown head.

She picked up the pieces and looked at them, her eyes wide and piteous. She was so dead tonight. Although they weren't even decent tools, Biru was always looking for some excuse to punish her, and Jakkusa was only too happy to help him find excuses for him to do so. They worked as a team in that way.

_The fists raining down on her, leaving bruises everywhere they hands landed. She tried to fight them off, but they were so much bigger than her, and she only irritated the man. She heard laughter a few feet away, and she vaguely recognized it as Jakkusa's._

"_Stop," she weakly cried, but it did nothing as usual_

Rene shook her head. _Don't think about those kinds of things, _she scolded left the broken tools in their pile and went back to pulling at the weeds. _Six months since you've been here. You should know not to do spit at him anymore. _It certainly did nothing to help her. All that it ended up accomplishing was getting herself hurt even worse, but some very annoying part of her wanted to fight back. It didn't want to just take the treatment like the smarter part of her said she should. It seemed like her past self was talking to her, trying to get her into trouble.

She looked around to make sure that nobody was watching before lightly touching the vase pendant through her shirt.A wave of sadness washed over her, and she sighed. She still had no memories and no idea who she was. She closed her eyes and searched her mind, as she often did. All that came before her though were the outlines of seven figures. The first couple of times she'd tried this technique, she'd been able to see them, but they were always blurry and never in focus. She remembered the distant sound of laughter and the smell of roses, but that was the extent of her findings. No matter how hard she tried, she could never coax anything else out of her mind. And life at Orphanage 3 had only been getting more and more unbearable. She gently rubbed the growing lump on her head. That kind of treatment wasn't unusual. As time went by, she'd steadily gotten used to the foul treatment. The forced kissing, the casual blows, the minimal amount of food, the lack of friends, the occasional ruthless beating, the verbal abuse. All of the kids in the orphanage were subject to some kind of mistreatment, but none so much as her. She could ease the pain of it if she were desperate enough, but she had too much pride for that.

Jakkusa seemed to rule the entire orphanage. For some reason, he was Biru's favorite, and the people he liked, Biru liked. But the people that Jakkusa liked did _favors _for him. Rene's empty stomach rolled at the thought of it and at the memories of the various grunts and cries that interrupted the quiet of the night at Orphanage 3. It was for that reason that she was the one that everybody ignored. She refused to give into his demands. It probably would make her life a lot easier, but the very thought of it disgusted her. She wasn't so desperate that she would submit to _that. _

Suddenly she heard the sound of loud and heavy footsteps. Rene's heart started beating really fast, and she looked up with fear etched into her face. The large, drunken man was clumsily bounding towards her. "Girl!" Biru bellowed.

Rene's blood ran cold, and she scrambled to her feet, instinct telling her to get away as fast as she could. She started to run, but she was so slow, and the man was so much faster. A hand took hold of her ankle, and she cried out as she fell to the ground. Her hands broke her fall, but her knee fell on top of a sharp rock, bruising it. _Nonononono, _her mind screamed uselessly as her fingers clawed at the rough ground, and her body was unwillingly pulled backwards. Her body was rolled over, and she was suddenly facing the sky when the blows began to rain down on her. They were slaps at first, and each one stung a bit more than the last. She threw her hands up to protect herself, but since she had her eyes closed, she had no way to predict where they were coming from.

"Useless girl," he growled with a drunken slur. "First burning the breakfast, than bullying your fellow tenants, and now purposefully breaking my tools?" She felt her glasses fly from her face, and she wanted nothing more than for the abuse to just _end. "_Bratty, spoiled slut. Have you no respect for anything? I suppose because you used to be rich, you think you can just break whatever you want and get away with it. God, I hate your type." _Stop, just stop, _she mentally pleaded, and just as she though that a large fist connected with her left eye. _Cold…so cold. And dark. Really, really dark…_

….

Tamaki walked into Kyouya's closet. His had been decorated much like his was several months ago, and like him, he hadn't felt the need to change much of it. Suits lined both sides of the wall, and but he ignored the jackets and instead chose a pair of black slacks and a white button down. As he walked out, he paused and snatched a solid black tie from a shelf.

His best friend was sitting on the large bed, holding his glasses limply in his hand. He was staring absentmindedly at the ground and slowly leaned back until he was lying on the bed. He closed his eyes, and Tamaki sat down next to him and waited. He knew that his best friend needed a moment to collect himself. Kyouya needed it to look like he was in control, and he would have never have let the others see him like this. He knew that they depended on him to be sure and together. What he didn't realize was that they wouldn't think any less of him.

A smooth drawl startled him out of his thoughts. "You didn't sleep either." His best friend said. It wasn't a question.

Tamaki looked at him surprised, eyes wide. "H-how-"

Kyouya sat up. "I've know you for years. Your fake smile doesn't fool me." His coal eyes zeroed in on his as he slid the metal frames of is glasses onto his face. "What was the dream this time?" he asked, getting to the point.

Tamaki sighed, resting his elbows on his knees and placing his chin in his cupped hands. "The usual," he said, abandoning all pretense. He closed his eyes, and he could see it all again. Weren't you supposed to forget your dreams after you'd had them? He had thought that, but his tended to follow him. He was able to call up every image from the dreams he had. They were different sometimes, but usually it was _that_ night. It was like reliving it. He had her hand in his grasp, and he could feel slippery sweat that ran between their hands, and he could hear her screaming.

Beside him, he heard Kyouya say, "You could borrow some of Mori-senpai's sleeping pills."

Tamaki opened his eyes and shook his head. "No, that's fine. The dreams hurt, but…" _they're the only times that I can see her, _he finished in his head. He knew that the rest of the club had dreams to. Every single one of them. Mori's had gotten to the point where he needed to use a sleeping pill to get some rest every night. He still had his dreams, but he was at least able to stay under the blanket of sleep while on the drug. Tamaki, though, knew his own body and how he reacted to medication. If he took the pill, then he wouldn't have the dreams anymore. And if he didn't have the dreams anymore, he wouldn't get to see her.

Kyouya nodded next to him. "I know," he said, as though reading his mind, which he always seemed to be able to do. " But I'm fairly sure that that behavior is destructive in some way or another." He reached over and took the clothing that Tamaki had gotten for him.

Tamaki, who was already dressed, turned around, giving his friend some privacy. "Anymore than the insomnia?" A sharp whack hit him in the side of the head, and he turned around, holding a hand to it. "Hey!"

"It's not insomnia," Kyouya said, glaring down at him, now fully dressed. "Idiot." The raven haired teenager spun on his heel and walked out the door, and Tamaki leapt to his feet, jogging after him. "Mother is so mean!" he cried in a high pitched voice and returned to his normal buoyant self. Haruhi wouldn't want them to despair during her absence.

As the two of them left the room and started walking down the hallway, a maid paused as she was carrying fresh towels to the bathroom. "Oh, young masters," she said, bowing, "If you are hungry, the cook has just finished breakfast."

Kyouya simply raised a hand in acknowledgement. "Very well."

Tamaki stepped forward, taking the woman's hand. "Thank you so much, my princess," he cried in a flowery tone. "Your consideration touches the very center of my humble soul." He tossed his hair in a princely manner and kissed her hand.

The maid blushed. "I-I-it was n-nothing," she stammered with a shocked face. Tamaki gave her a dazzling smile, and the girl scurried away, clutching her chest and breathing hard.

Kyouya rolled his eyes in exasperation as the blonde bounded up to him. "Come on, you moron," he said in an annoyed tone, but Tamaki could detect the underlying affection. He laughed lightly and heard footsteps. He turned around to see the twins walking towards them with a bored expression.

"Hikaru! Kaoru!" he called, and they too rolled their eyes.

"Tono, what did you do to that poor girl?" Kaoru asked as they started walking with the identical red heads. "Her nose was bleeding."

Kyouya lightly chuckled. "It seems like the maids still aren't used to our King's charms."

Tamaki spun in a circle. "I must say, it is not surprising!" He cried, gesturing wildly. "After all, art should always take one's breath away."

The twins ignored him. "So in other words, you're saying that he was acting pervy toward her?" they said simultaneously.

"No! I was doing no such thing!"

The two rolled their eyes and continued walking, albeit rather slowly and tiredly. They must have had dreams last night too. He and Kyouya hadn't been the only ones who were affected by their princesses absence. The twins teasing had gradually decreased in their enthusiasm, and they had taken to a perpetually bored attitude. It was almost like they had reverted back to the people they were before they had joined the Host Club, except for the fact that they weren't as isolated as before. Now they spent the majority of their time in the company of the other club members, but it still saddened him to look at how much they had changed without their "toy".

Hunny and Mori had changed in their own ways too. While Hunny still kept up the Lolita-shota attitude, he had gotten much more serious in the last few months. He spent a lot of time in the Houshakuji gym with Mori, practicing his martial arts, and his level of enthusiasm for life had also dropped. Then there were the times late at night when the club had gotten tired of keeping up all their acts, and they would all gather in the drawing room with no other light than the fireplace. They would all sit in the plushy armchairs in silence, absorbed in their own thoughts, and Tamaki would often catch his senior staring into the fire with a slightly dead look, while the flames reflected in his large brown eyes.

Mori, surprisingly, much worse at hiding his fear and anxiety than his cousin. He was so hesitant now. Once, Mori was a doer. He had faith in himself, and he did what he felt was best in every situation. But losing Haruhi had deeply affected every ounce of self confidence he had. He hesitated before he did anything. It was subtle: moving his body to do something only to stop short, second guessing every decision he made. And sometimes, Tamaki would see him stare at his hands with an expression of guilt as though he were the one who had let Haruhi fall.

Tamaki sighed. They needed her back.

The club reached the bottom of the elegant staircase, but instead of walking towards the dining room, they turned left and entered another room through a pair of double doors. It was the room that he and Kyouya had been in earlier that morning, and it was the room that the Host Club met every single morning. Hunny and Mori were already there, and the small blonde leapt to his feet, while Mori stood much more slowly.

"Good morning, everybody!" Hunny cried, waving an arm back and forth enthusiastically.

Hikaru snorted. "What's so great about it?" he mumbled.

"Be nice to your brother!" Tamaki cried as he took his seat in the dark red armchair near the window. He noticed that the stain in the carpet had completely disappeared. It seemed that the maids had gotten to it in enough time. He looked around the room. Every inch of wall space had been covered. The large desk was overflowing with stacks of paper full of all kinds of information. He reached over and randomly grabbed a sheet of paper, glancing over it. It seemed to be Haruhi's dental records. He wearily placed it back in the stack and ignored the pictures staring at him from every age and angle. At first having her image staring at him had bothered him, but he had gotten used to it now.

Kaoru was looking at one of them now. He noticed sadly that it was one from one of their many Host Club activities. She was wearing her cute smile, and Hunny-senpai was clinging to her, hugging her around the waist. She looked so happy.

"Anything new, Kyou-chan?" the said blonde boy asked.

Kyouya sighed. "Nothing much." He picked up a small pile of paper and handed it to Hunny. The rest of the club looked over the smaller teen's shoulders. Tamaki felt his face fall as he saw the list.

"Names?" Mori said. He looked up at the other raven-haired teenager with an indifferent face, but Tamaki saw how his senpai's posture had slumped a bit at the insignificance of the information.

Kyouya nodded. "Just some of the names of Kotoko Fujioka's old coworkers. She might have taken refuge with them," he said, but the way he said it showed how unlikely he thought that was. In other words, just more superfluous information. Tamaki fell against the back of the armchair. He wondered how Haruhi would react to all the information they had if she were here now. She would probably be mad that they had pried so deeply into her life like that. However, if she were there, there would be no reason for all of it.

A loud knock interrupted their silence. Kyouya looked up. "Enter," he called, and the door opened to reveal several men carrying trays of food. The men placed the plates on the coffee table and arranged the various silver wear around it. Another servant entered, looking nervous.

"Erm, Ootori-san?" he said, and the Host Club groaned. Not this again.

A deadly glint entered the Shadow King's eyes, and he held out his hand in resigned expectation. The servant grimaced before pulling an envelope from his suit jacket and handing it to the teenager. Kyouya's glasses glared in the light as he used his pale white fingers to open the envelope and pull out a sheet of paper. He scanned it quickly, and the room watched in silence. The quiet stretched out for a few moments. "I refuse," he said firmly and loudly, snapping his fingers and holding out his hand. Kaoru reached into his pocket, pulled out a small lighter, and placed it in the Shadow King's waiting hand. Kyouya pressed the trigger, and a small flame came to life at the end of it. He brushed it against the corner of the white paper and let fire eat away at it. The paper blackened and rolled, crinkling as though it were trying to escape the flames. He tossed it into the fire place, where it continued to crackle and burn.

Tamaki watched it smolder. "So what did he want this time?"

Kyouya rolled his eyes. "To come and stay at the Ootori mansion and learn more about keeping the family business. Alone, of course." He turned to look at the fire, so Tamaki could only see his back. "In other words, the usual."

"So you did receive my letters," a cold, imperious voice said. Kyouya spun around to see who had spoken. Standing in the doorway was the author of the letter. Yoshio Ootori's glasses glinted slightly as he looked at each member of the room individually. He then focused on Kyouya and crossed the threshold of the room. "Is it really too much to ask you to come home?" he said in an annoyed, exasperated tone. But Tamaki noticed that there was something wrong with his voice. It wasn't as brisk as it normally was, and there was something in his eyes…pity?

Kyouya crossed his arms. "Are they permitted to come with me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ootori opened his mouth and was about to speak, but another voice interrupted him. "Aren't there more important things to discuss right now, Ootori-san?"

A very familiar man walked into the room. Tamaki's eyes bugged out of his head. "Father? What are you doing here?" The man didn't respond, but he looked at his son with such a sad expression. He thought he could see tears in his father's eyes. Tamaki's eyes widened. He had never seen his father like this. Suddenly Tamaki was very worried. Something was wrong. "What's going on?" he asked frantically, looking back and forth between the two adults. His friends rose to their feet behind him, confusion written on their faces.

Kyouya's father closed his eyes and pushed his glasses up his face, looking for a moment exactly like an older version of Kyouya. His eyes met his son's, and they didn't waiver. "Souh-san and I ran into an acquaintance of yours today, and we naturally lent our services." His voice was heavy, and Tamaki knew that Kyouya had detected the change of tone too. The man sounded so old.

Kyouya blinked in surprise, and his eyes narrowed. "And which acquaintance would that be?" Kyouya asked suspiciously.

The two men stepped aside simultaneously, and another man walked into the room. He looked so different, but Tamaki could still tell who it was. There was a collective gasp from all the teenagers.

"Ranka-san?" they all cried simultaneously.

The man gave them the smallest of small smiles before Tamaki, Hunny, Hikaru and Kaoru ran up and seized him, drowning him in a group hug. Kyouya and Mori moved forward with hopeful looks on their faces, praying that this man would be the key to finding what they were looking for.

Yuzuru Suoh caught Yoshio Ootori's eye and nodded his head toward the door. Ootori blinked in understanding, and the two adults exited the study. Suoh paused on his way out, looking sadly at a picture of the girl. So young…He left the room, feeling coal black eyes following him on his way. He internally cringed. The third Ootori son was too smart for his own good.

As soon as the two of them had vacated the room, the servants moved together to close the double doors. They shut with an ominous click, but both adults stood there, staring at the doors, knowing what was happening inside. Further away in the mansion, Suoh could hear a young girl's anguished cries. They were messy and shrill and clogged with tears. Next to him, Ootori closed his eyes. They knew that it was going to be worse for their sons.

Suddenly, Anne-Sophie burst into the room. Her vibrant blue eyes were wide and panicked, and she looked terrified as she ran up to the two businessmen. She clutched Yuzuru's sleeve. "The Houshakuji girl is hysterical! What did you say to her? What's wrong? What's happened?" she cried. She was clutching the sleeve so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.

Yuzuru wrapped his arms around the French woman and held her close, stroking her hair. He sighed heavily. "The children…"

"What about them?" she demanded, looking up into his eyes. They were overflowing with worry.

Ootori turned towards them. "Fujioka's daughter is dead," he said emotionlessly. His eyes were focused on the door, never moving.

Anne-Sophie gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. Tears formed in her eyes. "No…" she whispered, shaking her head. Her mind immediately leapt to her son. Her son who cared so much about that poor, poor girl. "How can you be sure?"

Yuzuru used his fingers to brush away her tears, but they fell too fast for him to keep up. "The man saw her body himself."

"They were killing them in my hospital," Ootori growled, dropping the cold, unfeeling mask. The man's lip curled in disgust. "In my hospitals."

More tears ran down Anne-Sophie's face. "The poor girl," she breathed.

Suddenly, a heart wrenching scream came from the room, making all the occupants of the hallway jump. "NOOOOOOO!" it wailed, and Anne-Sophie felt her heart constrict at the pure anguish in that yell. There was a crash, and she pushed past the men and threw open the doors with Ootori and Suoh right behind her.

The coffee table had been upended, and tea cups rolled around on the floor as the tea and food stained the carpet. One of the red haired boys was on his feet glaring at the poor father, barring his teeth. His fists were clenched. "YOU'RE LYING!" he bellowed, desperation raking his voice. "SHE CAN'T BE!"

The father looked at him calmly. "I saw her myself," he said simply as though he had already accepted it.

Tears welled in the boy's eyes and poured down his face. He kicked the leg of the table, splintering it. "Damn it…" he sobbed much more quietly. "Damn it." He sunk back onto the couch, and his twin threw himself into his arms, and they clung to each other like lifelines, sobbing.

"No, no, no, no, no," the other twin whimpered, burying his face into his brother's shoulder.

Next to him, the Haninozuka boy had slid to the floor. He'd drawn his knees up to his chest and pressed his hands against his ears as though trying to keep himself from hearing anything. He had tears too, but he released them much more quietly. He turned his face from Ranka. It seemed like it was impossible to look at him, the man connected to the girl's death, who had actually seen his friend's corpse. Tiny hiccups escaped his lips no matter how hard he tried to restrain them. He looked so much smaller and younger.

The boy's cousin was hunched over in his seat, gripping his hair and rocking back and forth slightly. She had never seen a person of this size and strength break down before, and it was scary just how powerless the usually strong boy seemed. Helpless. He stopped rocking for a moment and pulled his hands away, and Anne-Sophie could see the red-rimmed eyes and the desolate expression. His eyes met hers, but she could do nothing else but stare at his sorrow. The boy turned away and focused his gaze on the window as though trying to find some way to get away from the utter tragedy.

At the other end of the room, Ootori's son was leaning against the wooden desk. His body was somewhat slumped, and he had a single hand gripping his face. His glasses had been left on the table, and the boy was at his rawest form. He was shaking in his sadness, and she saw that he wasn't crying yet, but it was only a matter of time. He seemed to be trying to hold himself together in all of this, but he was failing. His stone mask seemed to be cracking, creating zigzagged lines across the normally smooth surface. "Gone," she heard him mumble brokenly, and beside her, she felt Ootori's body stiffen.

Finally she turned towards her son, terrified at what she might see. Tamaki sat in another desk, and he hadn't moved the whole time. He stared disbelievingly into the grain of the dark wood, and his eyes were wide and dazed. His hands were violently shaking. It was as though his mind hadn't fully grasped what Fujioka-san had said. He shook his head back and forth in denial.

During all of this, Fujioka stood up. He looked at them all with a sad, yet warm expression. "I traveled all this way…because of her. She-she would have wanted you all to know." The children looked up at him with tear filled eyes, and the older man's began to well up too. But he had a tiny smile on his face, and he sniffed. "You know…you were all very important to her. So very important," he choked. "She loved you all dearly, and you know, she had never had that before. She was always on her own. Until she had you. I have to thank you for that." He walked forward and placed a hand on top of Tamaki's head. He didn't face them as he said. "You all gave her something special. You…made her enjoy life. You gave her something worth fighting for and worth loving." His voice broke at this part. "And if she had to go, I'm glad that it was after she had met you boys." His hand brushed through her son's hair as he walked towards the doors. "I could never thank you enough," he whispered, and then he disappeared through the doorway and out the Houshakuji mansion and out of their lives. Forever.

….

"Hnnn," she groaned, coming into awareness. Or further into unawareness. She never knew which was which anymore. All she knew was that her head was throbbing and that it was really dark, and she was still _freezing. _She almost cried when she realized that she still had goose-bumps on her arms. No…All she wanted was to be warm. She wasn't even sure that she remembered what that was like. To not have to briskly rub her arms to cause friction or to not have to huddle in a tiny ball every night because her blanket wasn't adequate. To feel the sun's warmth on her face but not _feel _it.

Words started to break through her groggy mind. "Wake up, hime. Come on now," said a smooth, drawling voice. A very familiar drawling voice…

She slowly and unwillingly opened her eyes. Right in front of her, very close to her face, was a shiny black shoe. It looked fancy, and attached to it was a leg. Her eyes trailed up the leg to see a body clothed in very fine and fancy formal clothing. It was white tie attire with a dark black tailcoat and a white low-cut waistcoat, which was accompanied by a matching bow tie and shirt. In the buttonhole of the tailcoat was a lavender boutonniere in the form of a rose. As her eyes continued to travel upwards, she noted that he had raven black hair and a cool calculating smile, but he still wore the mask like they always did. The mask, as usual, covered the entire top half of his face and hid his eyes from view. It was lavender to match the rose on his chest and was very simple with only a few elegant details to add beauty.

The man extended a hand to her, and she took it, letting him help her to her feet. He bowed to her. "Welcome back," he said warmly, and she smiled at him.

"Thank you," she said sweetly, happy to see him. Those boys were the only nice things in this dark world. She took in her surroundings to see where she had woken up this time. The dark, elegant architecture, the high ceilings, the large, arching windows, and books. Book everywhere, along the walls, on the shelves, on the mahogany desks.

"We're in the second library," the man said, reading her mind. He offered her his arm, and she wrapped her arm around his elbow. He led her through all the shelves and the desks. The only light came from the moonlight through the window. It shone through, illuminating the ground and everything that it touched. The storm clouds that haunted the day always seemed to disappear at the nighttime. The utter lack of sun was enough to keep her world shrouded. The castle was always dark.

Suddenly, she heard a hissing noise. She turned her head toward the right, and on top of a tall shelf was a shadowy figure. It was crouched on all fours and had glowing white eyes that followed her as she walked. Before she could scream, the man leading her put a hand over her mouth. "They can't touch you while I'm here," he reminded her, and she wished that she could see his eyes. She had a feeling that they would make her feel better, but the mask hid them from her. The metallic taste of fear was still in her mouth, and her stomach was still churning uneasily. She continued limping along, and the man gave an exasperated sigh. "Really now," he softly scolded, and he placed himself between her and the monster, and he wrapped a thin arm around her shoulders. It felt odd and foreign, but she relaxed into the protecting embrace. That's right. She was safe as long as she was with one of the boys. They left the library.

They had to walk for awhile. Her body was so sore, and it ached terribly. That and her limp made her pace very slow, but the teenager didn't seem to mind. He walked patiently with her and made no comment. It was a very pleasurable silence, and he never removed his arm from her shoulders. She smiled slightly. It was almost like being cared for. She had forgotten what it was like since the last time she'd left this world. The other one at the orphanage was so lonely and miserable…

"That's new," the boy said, breaking the silence.

She looked at him confused. "Pardon?" she asked.

He carefully reached out a hand, and with two fingers, gently traced the very edges of her eye socket. It didn't hurt, but she realized that it was puffy and swollen. She sighed. She must have a black eye.

He removed his hand. "The usual culprit, I assume?" he said coolly, but she could hear the brewing anger beneath his words.

"That would be correct," she said, not looking at him. She was still ashamed of the abuse that she suffered. She felt helpless and weak whenever she thought about it. All the blows and all the bruises. She hated how powerless she was too it. Her eyes found the ground, and she kept her gaze on it as she walked. So far, none of the boys had judged her for her wounds, but she couldn't help but feel embarrassed. The boy didn't respond.

He led her to a pair of glass French doors that opened out to a large balcony. He removed his arm from her shoulders and instead took her hand before pushing on the golden door handle and gracefully opening the door. Still holding her hand, he guided her onto the balcony, where she could see the moon and the stars. They winked down at her with their light, penetrating the darkness. She sighed heavily longing for one. A patch of light that she could carry around with her. One that she could even bring into the other world.

Sadly, she reached into her ratty dress and pulled the gold chain out. She held onto the vase pendant, staring at it.

"_Where is that family you say you've got, pigeon?" _She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep his words from reaching her. The taunting. _"It's been months. One would think that they'd have come for you by now." _Maybe they were having trouble finding her. She couldn't even remember who she was. It had to be really hard to find somebody with no name. Right? _"They've probably forgotten all about you. You couldn't have meant that much to them," _Jakkusa's voice mocked.

She opened her eyes, and they were full of sadness. Maybe he was right. For all she knew, she probably didn't even have a family anymore. Six months had passed. Surely if somebody were looking for her, she would have heard something. Maybe they were dead or maybe…she didn't want to think about it, but maybe it was possible that she truly had been forgotten…

"You're rather quiet tonight," the boy next to her said. She turned towards him in surprise. She squeezed her necklace. "Something's bothering you." It wasn't a question.

The precious metal of the pendant dug into her skin, but she tightened her grip despite the pain and turned her face away from the black-haired boy's. She didn't want him to see the sorrow in her eyes, but she couldn't help but answer him. The fact that somebody was talking to her without making fun or without malice was too unusual for her now, and as much as she wanted to keep her fears to herself, she found that she had to show them to this comfortable boy next to her. Gazing out onto the grounds, she said, "I have…doubts."

"About?" she heard the boy as curiously, and she turned back to him, slightly lifting the chain of her necklace to show him the pendant. The boy touched it, holding it between two fingers. "Ah," he said before dropping it and letting it fall against her neck. The blue vase bounced slightly against her flat chest. "You're letting them get to you," he said, turning his face to look up at the endless black sky.

She blinked in surprise, and she felt the sting of tears in the back of her eyes. "I'm not _letting _them do anything!" she cried irritably. She'd hated the way he'd said that. Mostly because it might be true. But what they were saying…"I mean," she said much quieter, "maybe they're right. It's been a long time, and I haven't been able to remember anything. And nobody's come for me. Maybe," she looked up at the stars. They seemed so lonely up in that dark expanse. "Maybe nobody will. Maybe there's nobody out there for me."

The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes letting that information sink in. She felt a sort of hollowness in her chest now that she'd said the words out load. It made them seem so much more real.

"You know, that's interesting," the raven-haired boy said. She whipped her head around. "You didn't strike me as the kind of person that just gives up on people. It's quite disappointing, actually," he said coolly.

How dare he? "I'm not giving up on anybody!" she cried, her voice rising. How could he judge her like that? It wasn't fair.

"Then what exactly would you call it?"

She opened her mouth again to speak, but hesitated. There really were no other words for it. She was just so tired. So tired of the cold, the darkness. The pain. Being hurt over and over again. The loneliness. The tears started to pour out of her eyes before she could stop them. She hated it all. She wanted to go back…but back to what? She had nothing.

Her black-haired companion looked at her as she cried. He made no move to touch her or comfort her. So she buried her face in her hands as the water streamed out of her eyes. A deep wind rustled the trees, and her clothing and long hair billowed all around her. Some of the flowers from the taller trees were blown loose from their branches and flew gracefully around them, drifting weightlessly in the air like tiny dancers.

She suddenly heard a chuckle. "My, how the tables have turned," the teenager muttered, slightly amused. She pulled her face from her hands to look at him. He had a genuine smile on his face as he looked at her. It wasn't large or overly extravagant, but it was still warm and comforting. "You know, a very good friend of mine once told me that if I wanted to do something, then I should do so. It seems to me like you're the one who isn't trying hard enough." Her eyes widened to saucers as he continued. "If you want to have your family again, then go out and find it. Put your all into it and don't look back if it means so much to you! The one who's not doing anything and not giving up…is _you._"

Her mouth dropped open at his words. Her mind was having troubles absorbing what he'd just said. "B-but," she stammered, trying to make her mind and mouth work. "What about-" Their words. Their taunts. What if Jakkusa and Ern and Biru were right?

The boy took her my her shoulders in his urgency. "Don't listen to them!" he said, shaking her a tiny bit. "What do they know? The question is: what do you want?"

She gazed up into where she thought his eyes should be. What did she want? Her arms hung lifelessly at her sides as she thought about that. What did she _want_? She wanted…food, to begin with. She wanted warmth. She wanted to never be hit again. She wanted to not be sexually harassed day in and day out. She wanted decent clothes that kept the wind from biting at her pale skin. She wanted to look in the mirror and find not a single bruise. She wanted a touch that wasn't threatening, but gentle and sweet. She wanted people to look at her without pity or disgust. She wanted that hollow feeling in her chest to go away. She wanted someone to smile at her, and she wanted to be able to smile back with genuine joy. She wanted her memories back. She wanted to be held. She wanted to be cared for. To be safe and wanted. To belong. A home.

The boy released her shoulders and leaned against the edge of the balcony. "Do you understand now?" he asked gently.

She smiled at him, tears still running down her face. "I think I do," she whispered. Home, love, family. There was once a time she must have had them too. She couldn't abandon them. She would never be complete unless she found them. Would never be happy. "They're out there somewhere, aren't they?"

The boy shrugged. "It's always a possibility, but don't you want to find out?"

She did. She really, really did. "Thank you," she said in a heartfelt tone, trying to convey just how grateful she was. He'd given her hope, something that she hadn't felt in a long time. It filled her up, making her feel weightless with its power.

He bowed, his black hair falling gracefully over his mask. "It was, of course, my pleasure," he drawled, and he smiled at her too.

Suddenly there was a loud and sharp bang that pierced the night. The two of them jumped in surprise, and she spun around trying to find the source of the noise. It sounded like a gunshot. There was a sudden, agonizing pain in her chest at that moment, and she screamed. It seemed to pierce her right above her heart, and she clutched it, sinking to the ground. Every breath hurt, and it felt like a fire was burning within her, eating her. She screamed again. What was happening? "Oh, my God," she moaned through tears and clenched teeth. This was utter agony. "What's happening to me?"

The boy simply stared at her. "I think something bad just happened," he said matter of factly, as though making an observation. "_God's finger touched him, and he slept," _he breathed.

She was struggling to breath. "Wh-what?" she gasped.

He turned to her. "Lord Alfred Tennyson. Excellent poet, but I'm afraid that as brilliant as I am, English Literature is not my forte. Don't worry," he said, finally noticing her deep labored breaths and awful pain. "You'll wake up soon." He nodded toward the clock tower, which she could just see to her left. "Midnight."

Her eyes widened. "No…" Not midnight. _Please…_The spell always broke at midnight. Midnight meant more pain. Midnight meant leaving this dark and scary world for another. The one with the orphanage and her tormentors. "Don't make me go back," she choked, still gripping her chest. A heavy sheen of sweat covered her pale, way too thin body. She squeezed her eyes shut, and a cool hand wiped some of her tears away just as the clock started to gong. The chimes rang out across the grounds, and it felt like each one was another wound, stabbing her in the heart. She leaned into the hand.

"We'll be here," she heard the boy say, and just like that, her world shattered.

…

A thousand miles away, Ryojji pressed the barrel of the gun against his chest. He smiled, the first real smile he had used in what felt like years. He'd see his wife and daughter soon. He knew that they'd be disappointed, but it was too much for him. Haruhi was all that he'd had left, and now she was gone too. There was nothing else. He was just glad that he had been able to find the boys. That's what his precious daughter would have wanted. She had loved them so much. She would have wanted them to know her fate and accept it. He just hoped that they would handle it better than he was. At least they had each other…

He cocked the gun and pictured his daughter's face. "Haruhi…" The smile on his face grew, and he pulled the trigger, not knowing that across several oceans, a girl with large brown eyes was waking up.

….

Rene woke up with a groan. She kept her eyes closed though. She didn't want to be back, so she pretended she wasn't. But there was no denying the harsh, prickling grass under her body or the deep aches that she felt all over her body. She almost sobbed in sadness. She was back at Orphanage 3, and her dream was already fading. No! She didn't want to forget it. Not again. She grasped at it, trying to keep it from leaving her, but it was like trying to hold a water with your hands. It seeped through the cracks and away from her until there was only a little bit left. But that was enough for her. She felt a steely resolve take over her. She didn't have to stay there any longer, she decided. There was somebody out there thinking of her and waiting for her. And she would do anything in her power to find them. At all costs.

She was going to run away, no matter what the consequences were.


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all goes to Bisco Hatori and all the people who will sue me if I claim otherwise.

A/N: (7/20) Well, here's my update, finally. Do you ever have those times when you have SO many ideas, but you're not sure how to piece them together? This is what I had with this chapter. I had to go through about 3 drafts before I could make it something that I like, but now I think it's okay. Pretty depressing, but it kind of has to be. It seems sort of filler-ish, but there is some very important information that certain hosts have to get into their heads to make the story work, so bear with me, please. And thanks for all the reviews and just everything! I hope you enjoy. Tell me what you think.

Chapter 8

Let your heart guide you. It whispers, so listen carefully- The Land Before Time

* * *

_When Kyouya opened his eyes, he was standing in the middle of a garden, a garden he knew very well. Yes, he had definitely been here before. The large, rustling trees, the bright flowers. He was in the Ootori family garden. It was a place he'd frequented often when he was younger. He regarded his familiar surroundings with confusion. _How strange…

_The bright sunlight beat down on him, warming his skin, and a slight breeze caressed his pale skin. He closed his eyes at the pleasant sensation, but there was a hollow feeling at the center of his chest, mercilessly assaulting him with each breath. It hurt. It hurt more than anything he had ever felt before. He had never felt so much pain before._ You've never lost somebody before, _a voice said in the back of his head, and he furiously wiped the tears away from his eyes, but it did very little. They ran like streams from his black orbs, so he let them fall and ignored them._

_He opened his eyes again to gaze at the Ootori family garden. Before him, several meters away was a small section of the garden. Small shrubs of roses were gathered in a circle, and their red color made him wince. Red was Haruhi's assigned flora. The pain in his chest once again started to attack him, stabbing at his heart. But before he knew what he was doing, his legs started to carry him over to the flower bed. The red assaulted his retinas._

_As he got closer, he could see a small head bobbing up and down behind the shrubs. Kyouya frowned. Who could that be? He slowly and silently crept around the circle of roses until he was at the break of the circle. His eyes widened at the sight. The head belonged to a woman with long black hair that flowed down her back, curling slightly. He could only see the back of her, but Fuyumi had shown him enough pictures of her for him to be able to tell who it was. A beautiful woman with a kind face and smile, which he had apparently inherited. The slim, frail body. A woman who had had the power to melt the heart of the eldest son of the Ootori family, but who had also had the power to destroy him with her death. Death during child birth. His birth. All he had known was coldness in his family, but according to Fuyumi, that wasn't always the case. All the warmth had left with this woman. He stood rooted in place, hardly daring to move. _

_The woman turned towards him, and he quickly drew in a breath. She was stunning. Her bright green eyes were shining brightly as she gave him a joyous smile, one which had only started to grace his face the last few years. "Hello, darling," she said sweetly, her voice light and musical. Like piano keys._

_Kyouya stared at her in wonder and surprise. No, this couldn't be possible… "M-Mother?" he stuttered, his eyes bugging out of his head. _

_She held out a fragile hand. She looked so small. "Come here, love," she said, and he hesitantly took her hand. She pulled him into the circle, and he sat down beside her on the ground. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He stared at his mother, a woman that he had only spent seconds with before her life was stolen. He couldn't get enough of her angular face and her emerald eyes. He could look at her for forever and be fine. _

_She ignored his staring, however, and instead gently cupped one of the red roses. She looked at him softly. "Kyouya, dear, what can you tell me about this flower?" she asked as though quizzing him._

_He raised an eyebrow in confusion and imitated her, cupping another rose. He felt a sharp pang at the sight of it. "A hybrid tea rose. Black magic to be precise." He went into lecture mode. "They are the newest type of rose, bred by a German company named Tantau, which specializes in roses. I order the Host Club's roses from there. Long, sturdy stems, 30-40 petals, one flower per stem. The bushes tend to grow about 3-4 feet, but under perfect conditions they can hit 6 feet. Disease resistant, require full sun and a lot of care. Symbolically, they represent love, respect, courage, and passion, but this particular type also represents unconscious beauty. All in all," here he felt a blockage in his throat, and it distorted his voice, "a very worthy flower." Now the tears were leaking again. They ran down his cheeks and curved at his chin before falling. They landed on the petals of the rose, leaving a single crystalline drop._

_His mother nodded at him, and her eyes held sadness. She laid a hand on his shaking shoulder, and he looked up at her with a devastated face. Her pale face held understanding, and she used her free hand to wipe his tears. "You forgot something," she whispered, and Kyouya's brow furrowed._

"_What?"_

_She pressed her lips against his forehead and gracefully stood up. He looked up at her from his position on the ground. "They're perennials."_

"_Perennials?"_

_She nodded, smiling again. She took a pair of scissors out of her pocket and regarded one of the flowers before taking the sharp edges to the stem and clipping it. She held out the rose to her son, who took it like he was in a daze. What could be so important about perennials? "Even though it seems like the flower has wilted away and died, the plant itself is still healthy," she said, a hint in her voice. She winked at him. "They always bloom again in the spring."_

_He understood that, but he was still confused. It seemed like she was trying to communicate something more to him. He knew that knowing look, it was one that he often employed. But what was she _saying? _He shook his head. "I don't understand," he whispered, and the woman ran her hand through his hair. He closed his eyes at the loving gesture. _

"_You will," he heard her say, and then her touch was gone. He opened his eyes in surprise and gasped. She wasn't there. She had disappeared. He couldn't see her anywhere, and he was left alone in the circle of Black Magic rose bushes, holding a single flower._

* * *

_When Hunny woke up, he was sitting at a table. He looked around in confusion. The table was situated in a dark, cold room. He shivered at the goose bumps that exploded along his flesh. It wasn't a normal kind of cold. It felt supernatural in a way. He couldn't see anything beyond the radius of light that the single light bulb ahead of him shed. He shrank in his chair. He didn't like this place. He didn't like how cold it was or the eeriness. He wanted to be back at Renge's mansion with his friends. He wanted to be back with them. _

"_Sorry, sorry!" a small voice called out. A tiny body rushed towards the table and leapt into the seat. Hunny's eyes widened like saucers. The boy looked exactly like him. The short height, the small body, the cutesy face, and the honey colored hair. The only difference was that Hunny was clad in only his blue pajamas, while his doppelganger wore a very formal suit with tailcoats. That and a bright pink mask that obscured the top half of his face. The boy grinned at him. "I'm really sorry I'm late!" he cried. He picked up his fork and knife. "But I'm here now!" Two large slabs of strawberry cake suddenly appeared in front of them. The boy broke out into a huge grin. "Cake!"_

_Hunny's mouth was hanging open from shock. He looked at his companion and at his cake. His companion and the cake. "But- but you're me," he said in his high voice. _

_The masked boy shook his head energetically. "Nope. I'm a mental representation of you." _

"_What?" _

_They boy giggled. "Well, never mind that. Just eat! It's really, delicious." With that, the boy shoveled several large bites into his mouth. _

_Hunny looked at the cake and felt his stomach churn. He pushed it away from him with two fingers and laid his hands in his lap, looking that the wood of the table with a dejected expression. He'd never eat strawberry cake again. Not after Haru-chan. It felt like his chest was being ripped in half, and he winced at the pain. It wasn't fair. How could she die? How could she be gone? It seemed impossible to him. He couldn't seem to grasp it. Couldn't seem to accept it…_

"_You're not going to eat your cake?" his doppelganger asked confused. His voice sounded rather pathetic, almost as though he was really upset that he wouldn't eat it. Hunny felt a prick of irritation. Upset because he wouldn't have cake? Really? After today's events, he had no idea how a lack of cake could ever be upsetting. This pain was worse than any sugar craving. It was all consuming, and it burned. _

_He didn't say any of this though. Instead he muttered. "I'm not hungry."_

_The boy cocked his head. "But we're always hungry."_

_Hunny glared at him. "I'm not." He slid off the chair, getting to his feet. "I'm tired of this. I'm going home." He started to walk away._

"_But you can't go home!" the boy called from his seat. _

_Hunny spun around. How dare he? "Watch me," he said, sending a death glare. His doppelganger seemed unaffected by it though._

"_No, I mean you need her first."_

_That hit Hunny. He hung his head, looking at the floor. Every heart beat seemed to pound at his soul. His throat was clogged with tears, making it hard to breathe. He clenched his fists, letting the pain wash over him. It was worse than anything he had ever imagined. "It doesn't matter," he muttered, his body shaking. His hair covered his eyes. "She's gone."_

"_But what if she isn't?" Hunny's head shot up in shock and confusion. The boy continued to look at him, but he had a serious expression this time. "What if she's still here?"_

_Hunny ran back to the table and slammed his palms on its surface. Was he saying what he thought he was saying? His heart was beating a rapid tattoo on his chest. He stomach swooped at the implications of the words. Could it be possible? "What are you saying?" Hunny demanded frantically. He leaned across the table until he was inches from the doppelganger's face. "Do you know something?"_

_A small smile graced his twin's face. "Nothing that you won't figure out soon enough."_

_A surge of anger rushed through Hunny's body. He took hold of the collar of the boy's white dress shirt and shook him. His face held death. "If you know something about her, I need you to tell me!" he cried, shaking him. "It's a matter of life or death!"_

_The boy shook his head. "It's not quite at that level. Yet. It will be soon though. So give it your best, yeah? Cause she's going to need you now more than ever."_

_Hunny felt the frustration itch at his skin. What was going on? "What are you talking about?" Hunny demanded, incredulity lacing his voice. "Hey!"_

_Suddenly, the boy disappeared. Instead, a swirling mist took his place before dissolving in midair. Hunny gazed at in a dazed comfusion before he felt a hot anger enter his blood. He got to his feet and yelled "Come back!" to the empty room. And with that, he woke up._

* * *

Hunny bolted up right in his bed. His breaths came in loud, panicked pants, and he felt like he couldn't get enough air in. Cold sweat ran down his body and stuck his expensive pajamas to his clammy skin. Hunny laid his blonde head in his hands and gently pushed on his eyes. Tiny sparks of assorted colors danced before him before he removed the pressure, but he still kept his face covered.

_What kind of dream was that? _He was no stranger to nightmares these last few months, but that one…it was so different. He rubbed his temples.

"_But what if she isn't? What if she's still here?" _

Could it be possible? Was there a chance that Haruhi was actually…alive? He shook his head. No. It couldn't be. Ranka himself had seen the body. He'd _killed _himself over it. Hunny remembered the gunshot that echoed all across the grounds several hours ago. All the blood. He shivered and felt his stomach churn at the memory.

But what if…What if there was a mistake? What if Ranka had been wrong? They had never gotten the information on how he had seen the body. Sometimes people made errors. Maybe…maybe Ranka had made one.

Hunny mentally slapped himself. No, he was creating a false hope. Denial. That was one of the stages of grief, right? Hunny flung himself back on his back and gazed at the elegant chandelier about him. He could barely see it through the darkness. He was just in denial. Haruhi was dead. Gone. A tear ran down his face.

"_But what if she isn't?"_

He heard a small creak, and he turned his head. Very slowly, the door to his room opened, and a black head poked itself into his room. It was about to leave, when Hunny whispered, "Kyou-chan?"

Kyouya paused and opened the door a bit wider. He looked awful, Hunny realized. Although, he probably didn't look an different from the rest of them. The desolate expression, the red rimmed eyes, the disorderly appearance. The younger boy pushed his glasses up his nose, but the attempt to hide his eyes with a glare failed in the darkened room. "Oh, senpai," Kyouya said in a surprised tone. His voice sounded heavy as though he had been crying for a long time. He bowed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up."

Hunny shook his head. "You didn't." He looked down at the expensive quilt on his lap. He traced the stitching and didn't look at his friend. "You couldn't sleep either." He said. It wasn't a question.

Kyouya sighed. "Not really." Hunny watched the black haired teenager shiver. "Strange dreams."

"You too?"

Kyouya nodded.

Hunny slid from his bed, and his bare feet touched the cold floor. Not for the first time, he wished that he had his Usa-chan. He'd dropped him during the escape from Ouran, and he missed him terribly. He wanted to throw his arms around something fluffy and warm, something comforting. Kyouya was none of those things.

Kyouya wordlessly opened the door for him, and they left the room. Their rooms were at the end of long, ornately decorated hallway. The moonlight and the lights of Paris made silhouettes out of their bodies and cast long shadows down the hallway. Kyouya's robe made his look like an imposing ruler, but Hunny's seemed pathetic and childish. He _felt _pathetic and childish. It was as though all his strength had been stolen from him. It reminded him of that one movie he had seen, the one with the black haired wizard with the lightening scar. He'd watched it several years ago with Takashi, and he remembered being scared of the creepy, black cloaked figures. Dementors, the ones that sucked your soul out of your body and made away with all your happiness. That was how he felt. Powerless and like he could never be cheerful again.

When they reached Takashi's door, Hunny was the one to open it. He didn't even bother being cautious and quiet like Kyouya had. He knew that Takashi wouldn't be asleep. His prediction proved correct when he pushed aside the door and saw his cousin sitting on the edge of his bed. Takashi's hands were clasped together, and he was hunched over them, looking at the ground. He raised his head to look at the ones who had interrupted the silence, and he didn't seem surprised to seem them there. Hunny walked in with light steps and gently took his cousin's hand. The gentle giant got to his feet at the slight tug and followed them out of the room. His shadow joined them.

"Ne, Takashi. What about the sleeping pills?" he asked, still holding his cousin's hand. He looked up from his short height, trying to meet Takashi's eyes, but the taller boy turned his head.

"I deserve the nightmares," his deep baritone voice said, and Hunny sighed. His cousin thought that he was to blame for what happened. He squeezed Takashi's hand, but he didn't say anything. He was so tired…

They reached the twins door next. This time, it was Kyouya who opened it, and he at first did so cautiously, but they he opened it wide so that they could all see. The twins had pushed their beds together and were in a defeated, tortured embrace. There was nothing pretty about it. Their hair was a mess, and their pale faces were red and blotchy. They both had tears running down their eyes, and it looked like Hikaru had snot slipping out of his nose.

Kyouya didn't even blink at the messy sight. He pulled a handkerchief out from a pocket in his robes and held it out to Hikaru. "Here," he said, and the elder of the twins took hold of it and wiped his face.

Kaoru furiously rubbed his eyes, trying to wipe out the wetness that was leaking from his face. "This is so wrong," he whispered, his voice broken and croaky.

A look passed over Kyouya's face, penetrating the mask. For a moment, it looked like he was going to hastily piece it back together and pretend that there had been no moment of weakness, but after a few moments, he couldn't hold it any longer, and it collapsed around him. The normal cool, emotionless expression gave way to a look of pure sorrow. He sighed and ran a hand through his already mussed up hair. "I know," he said.

* * *

Tamaki had already been awake when they walked in. He was standing at the window, resting his hand against the glass. The lights of Paris illuminated his face, which gazed unseeingly out at the passing cars and the flowing river. Instead, a small, wide-eyed face swam across his vision. He pressed his hand against his forehead and sobbed. This was all his fault. He'd never felt so much guilt before. He'd never felt so much pain. Not even when he'd been forced to leave his mother. He'd never felt anything like this. Somebody very precious to him had died. And it was his fault. He'd as good as killed her. Murdered her. He felt his stomach heave, and he gripped it, but there was nothing left in it to vomit. He'd emptied it hours ago.

He heard the door creak when it opened, but he didn't turn around. He knew who it was. They all shuffled in without a word, and their reflections shone through the window. Kyouya plopped himself into the armchair, and his body hunched over from the pressure of all the despair. Mori sat on the edge of the bed, and Hunny leaned against his legs on the floor. The twins simultaneously leaned against the window and slid down it until the were leaning against the wall beneath it. Each of their faces were etched with anguish and misery.

He hung his head. "I'm so sorry," he muttered, heart broken. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fist against the window.

"_You're so weird, senpai!"_

"_I think you're fine just the way you are."_

"_Besides, people are always telling me that I'm dripping with good looks."_

_A bright smile, a high giggle, big brown eyes that always seem to see _everything. _And then he saw her face the last time he saw her. Filled with terror and fear. Her eyes wide and panicked. "Don't let go!"_

He drew in a shaky breath. "I'm so sorry," he said again

Hunny looked up with tears falling out of his eyes again. "It wasn't your fault, Tama-chan," he whispered, and Tamaki opened his eyes and shook his head vigorously.

"Yes, it is. I dropped her. She told me to not let go, and I did." He turned away from the City of Lights to face the dark room. He looked at the ground. "I as good as killed her," he breathed.

Suddenly, he felt his head snap back and a sharp pain on his cheek. His eyes went wide with shock, and he brought a hand to his throbbing face. Hikaru was standing in front of him, his hair covering his eyes. He was shaking with fury. The club watched in surprise as he cried, "You idiot! Did you push her off the train? Did you blow up the school? Did you start the invasion? NO!"

Tamaki blinked. They didn't understand. They didn't get it. He had promised her to always be there for her and to protect her, and when it had mattered most, he'd failed. He'd dropped her, and she'd died because of it. They shouldn't be here with him. They should hate him. They should blame him. They should be wishing exactly what he wished, that _he _had been the one who fell and died, not her. But he couldn't verbalize it. He couldn't seem to force any of it through his knotted up tongue. He shook his head back and forth in a daze.

Hikaru looked him directly in the eye. "You would have done everything in your power to save her," he said much more quietly. "She wouldn't want you to blame yourself for this."

Tears poured out of Tamaki's eyes. "But how can I not?"

"That's up to you to find out," Mori said from his spot on the bed, and Tamaki felt the guilt ring his heart. He didn't deserve them. He didn't deserve any of them.

Kaoru rose to his feet, and the club watched him exit the room. He returned seconds later, holding a long necked bottle and six glasses.

Tamaki raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know where you got that?"

Kaoru shrugged. "Probably not, Dad," he said pouring the red liquid into the glasses. Tamaki couldn't help but be reminded of blood.

Kyouya rose to his feet and took the bottle from Kaoru's grasp, inspecting it. He pushed his glasses further up his nose. "This has got to be illegal somewhere," he whispered.

Hikaru scoffed, rolling his eyes. He reached around the black-haired teenager to take hold of a glass. "Who the hell cares?"

Hunny and Mori stood up too, and once all the hosts had taken a glass of the red wine, there was a tense silence in the room. Nobody dared take a sip of it, as though they were all waiting for something. Tamaki stared gloomily into his, looking at his reflection. What would Haruhi have to say about this? He raised his glass slightly. "Here's to you, Haruhi," he said heavily, "the best of us all."

"To Haruhi," the rests of the hosts intoned, and as one they downed their drinks.

Hikaru gasped. "More," he said, holding out his empty cup.

Kyouya pulled the bottle out of reach. "No," he said firmly. "You'll get a hang over."

Hikaru laughed bitterly. "I think that tonight is the perfect night to drink ourselves into oblivion."

"What kind of mother would I be if I let that happen?" Kyouya asked, and Tamaki was secretly grateful that he interfered where he wouldn't. He knew that drinking himself to sleep was a stupid idea, but he was so tired. He wanted to forget, he wanted to sweet release that he'd heard that alcohol would bring. Haruhi would hit him if she ever heard him thinking like that. _Or she would have…_

Hunny yawned, and once again, Kyouya took on the motherly persona. "Bed," he said, and Tamaki dragged himself to his side of the bed. Behind him, Mori lifted Hunny as though he weighed nothing and gently placed the small blonde child in the middle of the bed, right next to Tamaki. Kyouya took his place on Hunny's right, while Mori and the twins made themselves comfortable at the end of the bed. Once again, Tamaki was thankful that Renge's guest bedrooms had such large beds and that he didn't live with his grandmother. The situation would have been rather embarrassing on any normal day, but it didn't today. He felt much safer and more comfortable with the warmth of his friends around him. It made the emptiness of the night feel much less scary.

After a time, his friends' breathing slowed down and got much deeper. He heard Mori groan in his sleep, and he felt a bit of pity. He knew his friend was in another nightmare, but they had tried to wake him up before, and nothing they tried ever worked. The large teenager was going to have to fight through this one on his own again.

"Tama-chan?" a soft voice whispered next to him.

Tamaki slowly rolled over on his side to face Hunny. His small face was illuminated by the lights outside. "Hai, senpai?" he breathed, trying to keep from waking up the rest of their friends.

Hunny bit his lip. He looked nervous. "You don't think that maybe…" he faltered off.

Tamaki's brow furrowed. "Think what?"

Hunny looked up at him with desperate eyes. "That maybe she's not gone yet? Not all the way?"

A surge of sadness rushed through the French boy, and he stared at the third year with surprise and misery. He laid a hand on Hunny's head and shook his head. "She's gone, Hunny," he said gently, "and there's nothing we can do to change that." With that, Tamaki rolled over to face the window, and he looked out into the night with longing blue eyes. He remembered a song he had learned when he was little. _I watch the stars every night, hoping that you'll return. _But she'll never return. She'll never come back to him.

"Good night, Haruhi," he whispered into the darkness, and he drifted off into an uneasy sleep, not knowing that the blonde boy next to him was still staring up that the chandelier above them.

* * *

Okay, well that's it for now! Hopefully my next updates will be quicker. I'll do my best! Next up: Rene makes her escape attempt. And other things. What will happen?


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all goes to Bisco Hatori and everybody who will sue me if I claim otherwise.

A/N: (8/12) Sorry, it took me so long. I had a bunch of writer's block and then summer college classes caught up with me, so I've been a mess with my time lately. I'm going to try harder to get it up faster, but real school is also starting on Monday, so I still might be a bit slow. I'll try my hardest though! In the meantime, thank you for still reading and for all the reviews and story alerts and everything. It means a lot, and I am so flattered. Thank you and enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 9

Morning had come, but that didn't ease the pain. It was likely that nothing ever would. Renge stared at the elegantly carved wooden door. She could practically feel the despair and the sadness through the wood. It seeped out of it and wrapped around her like tentacles, strangling her. Or was that the terrible lump in her tear clogged throat? She felt so tired, and every movement felt like a huge effort. And to think, she hadn't even know the girl that well. She hadn't even known that she was a girl! If she was feeling this way, she couldn't even imagine how the boys on the other side of the door were feeling. The ones who had considered themselves a family and thought of the girl as an essential part of it. The girl that they had worked so hard trying to find over the last six months. The one that they had _needed. _What could they be feeling right now? She had lost a friend, but they…they had lost part of their whole world. Someone precious and important. Someone that they would have risked anything and everything for.

Soft footsteps met her ears. "Miss?"

Renge turned around, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her dress. Two servants stood hesitantly a few meters behind her, holding large trays of food. They had wary, awkward expressions on their faces, for they had never seen their mistress look so distraught. But before, it was so easy to fix all her problems. A carefully constructed pout or a stamp of the foot was all that she had ever needed to get what she wanted, but now…Now she couldn't fix it. No amount of begging or pleading or whining would bring that girl back to her and those boys. She sniffed. "Yes?" she whispered quietly, not having the energy to speak louder.

The two maids looked at each other with concern, and one of them stepped forward. "Miss," she said with a worried tone, "you need to eat. It's not healthy to-"

"I'm not hungry," Renge interrupted sharply. Immediately, the tears sprung to her eyes again, and she furiously wiped them away. They didn't deserve her curtness. What would Haruhi say? "I'm sorry," she said much more softly, hanging her head

The maids stood there awkwardly, obviously not quite sure what to say. Renge didn't blame them. She was a mess. The other girl stepped forward. "What about your friends?" she asked gently. She nodded towards her tray. "They should probably have something. They've been in there a long time."

Renge turned to look back at the door. Not a sound could be heard from the other side, but she knew they were in there. Taking a shaky breath, she turned her back on the door and walked between the two maids. They turned to face her retreating back. "Miss?"

"I don't think that that door will be opening for a while," she whispered, the sunlight falling on her body through the windows.

* * *

Rene silently rose to her feet, clutching the empty drawstring bag and her black shoes against her chest. The quiet breaths of her fellow orphans filled the air, but the room still seemed horribly silent. She felt that any sound could shatter it, alerting everybody of her actions and ruin everything. Even her heartbeat put her at risk. She could feel it hammering against her chest, and she squeezed her eyes shut, praying that it would calm down. So loud, so loud…It'd wake everybody up for sure. And then where would she be?

She opened her eyes again and quietly leaned against the wall by her thin mattress, doubt filling her mind. It felt depressing and hopeless. Maybe this was a bad idea. They'd catch her for sure! It was only a matter of time, and what would happen then? She shivered and felt her stomach drop as she imagined how Biru would react. His splotchy, cruel face swam in her vision, and she furiously shook her head, trying to rid herself of the image. He'd _kill _her. Her breathing picked up, and she slapped a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle it. She should just lay back down and go to sleep. Abandon the plan. Getting caught was something she couldn't risk, something that could kill her. Was it even worth it.

As she thought that though, six blurry figures popped in her mind. Her memories, or what was left of them. Rose petals and a symphony of voices, colliding together to form an unrecognizable mess of noise. Soft materials pressed against her skin and a _warmth. _A warmth so different from the cold that always pierced her now. One that not only ran across her skin but filled her from the inside. One that occupied her chest and felt like smiles and laughter. The precious metal of the necklace rested against her chest, warm from her body heat. She pressed it now, feeling the grooves of its design through the thin fabric of her ratty dress. She'd never find out about any of that if she stayed here.

She took a deep, steadying breath and straightened, a new determination in her face. _I can't believe that I'm doing this. _Still clutching the bag to her chest, she stepped over her mattress and tiptoed through the room. The shadows of the bodies around her were dark despite the moonlight that glowed through the window, but they didn't move or stir as her feet fell on the old wooden floor. Her bruises ached from the movements, but she ignored them. A vivid sense of awareness pervaded her system, and along with it came a horribly uneasy feeling that flooded her mind. _Fear. _Rene breathed deeply through her nose. _Now isn't the time to be preoccupied by such things, _she scolded, but that didn't stop her from nearly crying out as a body shifted in the dark. She froze in terror for a moment, but no other sounds or movements were made, and she could only assume that the child was still asleep.

When she passed Jakkusa's bed, the uneasy feeling reached it's acme, and it was all she could do to not break into a sprint and run as far away from his as possible. The boy who had tortured her for months and made her life a living hell and who still would if she made the slightest movement. _Go back, _her mind cried, _just go back to bed. He won't notice. Gobackgobackgoback. _

_No! _a stronger voice from her head cried, one filled with determination. _You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain! Keep going!_

Rene chose to listen to the stronger voice and whispered past him. A sense of relief rushed through her as she reached the door to the hallway. This marked the completion of the first obstacle in her journey. She turned back to look at the dark, ramshackle room. The children sleeping in their beds. The people who had watched her abuse and ignored it and her altogether. The bastard himself. Her mattress in the far corner, looking lonely and secluded from everybody and everything. The moonlight shining down on it, illuminating the stained material. Good riddance. She eased the door open and slipped into the hallway.

It took her a few moments to get down the staircase. She knew from experience that the steps tended to groan and creak if too much weight was placed on the wrong spots. She carefully evaded every problem point that she knew of, stepping over them, placing _just _the right amount of weight on them and slowly lifting it. At one point, she slipped on the edge of a step, and her foot fell off and landed on one of the loud ones. Rene closed her eyes, bracing herself for the noise that would give her away. Silence. Surprised, she opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't weight enough to set off the groan. Pressing a hand against her startled heart, she continued her descent, glad that she had lost so much weight in the last six months. Not that she weighed much beforehand, but her meals had been rather infrequent thanks to their caretakers drinking habit.

She stepped lightly off the last step, her foot padding softly against the floor. So close now. Freedom was just outside the front door. It beckoned her, calling for her, but she turned her back on it. There were a few other things she needed to do.

Rene walked across the filthy room to the kitchen door and grasped the handle with her pale hand. Slowly, she twisted it and pushed on the wood, letting herself in. She looked around to make sure that nobody was there before she went to work. Quickly, yet quietly, she crossed the room and opened the cabinets. Pulling open her drawstring sack, she began taking random items out and stuffing it into the confines of the fabric. Guilt pricked at her insides for stealing, but she pushed it down. She wasn't taking much, just enough to last her for a few days, and it wasn't as though she was really stealing. She was only taking what she would have been fed anyways. None of the other children would suffer for her thievery. That still didn't quell the feeling in her stomach. At least she now knew that the old her had a conscience. That wasn't something that she could have formed during just the six months that she had been here. It was something that she had to have had before the invasion and occupation.

The fabric made a small zipping noise as she yanked on the strings, closing the bag. She felt a tiny smile grace her face and spun on her heel, exulting in her moment of triumph. She weaved her way around the table and various chairs, her footsteps quieter than ever. She was leaving, it wouldn't be long now. Escape was only two doors away.

Her hand reached out for the doorknob, but before she could take hold of it, the door opened. A dark shadow fell on her, and her eyes widened to the size of saucers. Her hands started to tremble, and a gasp made its way out of her mouth. No. This couldn't be happening. Brownish blonde hair filled her vision as the boy leaned into her face. "Up for a little midnight snack, now are we?"

"Ern," Rene gasped through her dry mouth. The wiry boy took a step towards her, and Rene backed away from him. Her mouth was hanging open, and the fear that she had experienced earlier took hold of her again, drowning her, threatening to totally take her over. She could barely think through the piercing feeling. Ern continued his advance until she had backed into the table. "Or is it possible," he whispered, "that you're going somewhere?"

Rene forced her mouth to work. A metallic taste gathered on her tongue, and she tried to swallow. _Come on! It's not that hard! _"O-of course not!" she cried, her voice a bit higher than normal. She laughed nervously and hugged her bag and shoes around her for protection as she tried to ease her shaking. Her entire body was quivering now. She'd gotten caught. Maybe she could hit him with the shoes?

The boy smirked, and she knew that he didn't believe her. "Well, that's good then. Because you know what would happen to you if Biru ever caught you, yes?" A hand reached out and took hold of her wrist, pulling her closer to him.

She pulled against him, but his grip only tightened as he pulled her to where their faces were only inches apart. He grinned down at her with a sadistic gleam in his eyes, and she glared at him, loathing leaking out of every pore in her body. "Let go of me," she growled through barred teeth.

Ern laughed menacingly. "I don't think you're really in a position to make demands, priss," he mocked leeringly. She gritted her teeth and struggled against the hand, but she was just too small. The wiry boy towered over her and leaned closer so that she was forced to hold herself up on the table with her free hand as she leaned back from him. "You really are very pretty," he whispered cruelly as he smirked, his canines making him look like some kind of predator. Rene nearly gagged on the stench of his breath. "I can see why Jakkusa is so interested in you." He forced a knee between her legs.

Rene gasped as panic went into overdrive. Ern wouldn't toy with her like Jakkusa. He wasn't as patient. He was going to outright rape her! Rene could practically hear the blood pounding in her ears. _No, this can't be happening! _her mind screamed.

Suddenly, a tiny, high pitched voice called to her from inside her head. A very familiar one. "_No, no! You're going to hurt yourself if you do it like that!" _the voice said. Rene furrowed her brow. What the hell? What was this? A memory? A flashback? The voice sounded so familiar. Like cake and sweet, fluffy things. It stunned her, making her freeze in place. The voice continued to say, _"This is how you do it. Don't tuck your thumb in and start with your knuckles vertical. Then thrust from your hips, spinning the hand so they're horizontal. See? It's not hard." _There was a smile in the cute voice. Encouragement.

Rene clenched her fist. Then, without warning, she threw it forwards, punching Ern solidly in the face. He stumbled backward, clutching his face. "Whab da hell?" he cried thickly. He pulled his hands away from his face, looking at them in astonishment. Blood was running down from his nose, splashing all over his shirt and staining it. His hands were covered with the substance. Rene's eyes widened in horror. "You bibth, do bwoke by dose!"

Rene ignored him, listening to the sounds upstairs. Her eyes widened.

"Who yelled?"

"What's going on?"

"Where are Rene and Ern?"

The pounding of feet increased. Rene drew in a sharp breath. She stepped around Ern and tried to run to the door of the kitchen, but a bloody hand once again grabbed hold of her wrist, once again stopping her short. The wiry boy leaned back, planting his feet in the ground as he clutched his nose. Blood ran down his arm, and his menacing eyes glared at her from an angle. The grip on her wrist tightened to the point of painful. Creaks and groans from the stairs met her ears, and Rene's eyes met Ern's. She knew from that look that he wouldn't let her go. She bit her lip. She really didn't want to do this. But he was such a bastard. Shooting him a look full of hate, she brought her leg back and quickly slammed her foot into his groin.

The boy let out a cry of shock and pain and fell to the ground. Adrenaline coursing through her body, Rene leapt over the cursing boy and threw the door open. At the foot of the stairs, all the orphans had gathered and were staring at her in confusion. Biru lumbered from the top of the staircase, wearing a heavily stained shirt and holding a brown bottle. "Wha' the hell is going on 'ere?" he slurred, his eyes red and unfocused.

Rene shot past them all faster than she thought possible. Normally she was very slow, but the adrenaline pushed her on, spurring her much too thin legs to rapid speed. Jakkusa dove for her, and his hands latched onto her tiny ankle. "No way," he growled, and in her panic, Rene brought her other feet back and slammed her heel into his eye socket as hard as she could. Jakkusa immediately dropped her and let out a agonized shriek that pierced the night.

Terrified and scared, Rene scrambled back to her feet and threw the front door open and flew out into the night. The cool night air whipped through her hair, making it fly behind her as she ran. The stones and the weeds scratched at her bare feet, but there was no time to put on her shoes. She'd do it later. Seizing the metal of the rickety gate, she violently yanked it open. A sudden pain registered in her mind as a stray piece of metal cut open the palm of her hand, and she could feel a sticky liquid start to leak out. There wasn't much time. She could hear the quick, heavy footsteps of Biru behind her. His labored breaths seemed like thunder in her ears, and she shot through the gate like a bullet, slamming it behind her. Metal against metal clanged in the night, and a heavy "Oomph!" followed. Rene didn't look back, but it sounded like the caretaker had ran into the gate.

She drew in her first few breaths of freedom. Free, she was free! For the first time that she could remember, an exhilarated, genuine grin spread across her face and she let out a wild laugh. She relished the feel of her cracked feet against the dirt path and the wind caressing her skin. Her bruises ached, but she didn't care as she spun around and gave a cheeky wave to the occupants of Orphanage 3. She would never have to see them again, never have to deal with them, never be hurt by them again. The feeling was incredible, and she felt like she was on top of the world. Nobody could touch her. She twisted back around and let her feet guide her. She didn't really know where she was going, just so long as it was away from there. The pendant on her necklace bounced against her chest as she ran. And she'd figure out who had given her that necklace and whether or not there was somebody waiting and hoping for her. All the answers to her questions lay ahead of her, and she was leaving all her misery behind.

Behind her, a deep voice called out, "Run all you want, bitch! You think you can get away with this? We'll find you! We'll hunt you down like the dog you are, and then, I'll kill ya myself!"

Rene giggled. "Go ahead, Biru," she said, even though he couldn't hear her, "the world is a pretty big place."

* * *

Rasputin straightened the cuffs of his Armani shirt as he gazed out at the water of the harbor. The water churned beneath his position on the dock, smacking against the wood and sloshing up it. Flicking an invisible piece of dust off the sleeve, he raised his head, observing his surroundings more out of boredom than anything. The guards around him stood at attention, ready at any moment to attack or defend. The moonlight shined softly off of the black metal. Gomon stood slightly behind him, tapping his foot impatiently. His pale, cold blue eyes seemed to stand out in the darkness, contrasting against his black hair and black cloak. It was warm out, but he never shed any of his multiple layers of black.

The man rolled his eyes in exasperation and made a point of checking his watch. "They're late," Gomon said, ice freezing along his voice.

Rasputin nodded, turning his attention back to the water. "Yes, but they should be sailing in any moment now." He folded his arms behind his back and allowed a small smirk to grace his face. "Don't tell me that the weather is getting to you?" he mocked.

Gomon snorted. "Of course not," he said in a gruff, irritated tone. "What I don't understand is why we have to stand here and greet the brat."

"He's the Emperor's nephew," Rasputin drawled reprimanding yet amused. "It would be rude to not welcome him to my providence." The last word came out with a laugh, and one of the guards in the line stiffened. If Rasputin noticed, he didn't show it as he stood straight and proud. It was almost regal in a way, but it was also fake and guarded, as though he were trying to hard to complete the image.

It appeared that Gomon didn't notice either, for when he continued on, Gomon's voice got even more exasperated as he argued, "He was banished."

"But," the Rasputin said, raising a finger, "he is still the Emperor's nephew. We've been entrusted with his care and refinement, given the task of shaping him into a man capable of serving in His Majesty's court. We'd be slacking if we didn't start off properly."

Gomon looked in his direction with suspicion in his glare. His brow furrowed as the icy man said, "You're awfully enthusiastic about this."

An amused grunt left Rasputin's lips. A cruel smirk wormed its way onto the man's face, and Rasputin turned his gaze upward to look at the sky. "There are many ways to benefit from this situation," he murmured in a calculating tone that made all the guards surrounding him shiver.

Gomon didn't react to the statement, clearly used to the man's dramatics and sadism. The blue eyed man pulled a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket and lit it before placing the lighter back in his pocket. He inhaled deeply and blew out a dark cloud of smoky vapor. "You're the boss here," he said in a slightly sarcastic tone. Another puff of smoke. "By the way, I received some very interesting information this morning."

Rasputin raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Yes." The man flicked some ash onto the ground. "Word has it that those brats in France got some rather unfortunate news yesterday." He looked up, and although his companion wasn't looking at him, it was obvious that all of the man's attention was on Gomon. "Can you guess?"

"Aren't you going to tell me anyways?" Rasputin said quickly, but with anticipation.

The man rolled his eyes but continued on. "Something about a certain brown haired girl being murdered in the Tokyo Ootori hospital, interestingly enough." A cruel, soft laugh made its way through his mouth. It echoed around the near empty docks. "They are absolutely devastated."

Rasputin crossed his arms and frowned, thinking. "So the Fujioka girl never made it to France," he said after a few moments of silence. He wrinkled his nose as a plume of smoke crossed in front of him, but he didn't pay much attention to it. He frowned in thought. "And yet the hospital certainly didn't dispose of her. I inspected the subjects themselves. So our question is this: where did she go?"

Gomon, finished with his cigarette, tossed it to the ground and twisted his heel over it, grounding it into the wood. He looked up, a cold, anticipating smile twisting his face. "Launch an investigation?" he questioned.

"Of course." A dark ship suddenly sailed around a group of buildings, making it visible as it pulled into the harbor. Rasputin watched it calmly. "My bet is that the girl never left, and if I'm right, which I usually am, then a world of opportunities have just opened up to us."

Horns blared through the night as two tug boats sped out into the water, ready to guide the huge ship to it's resting place. A tall figure could be seen leaning against the deck railings, peering down at the Japanese docks below. Pulling his hood over his head, Gomon enshrouded his face with darkness. "Things have suddenly gotten a lot more interesting," he murmured, and Rasputin nodded.

"_Very _interesting," he confirmed.

* * *

Rene crossed her arms behind her head as she stared through the canopy of trees. Sunlight fell through the leaves, sprinkling the ground around her. Bird song rung throughout the small area of vegetation, their soft chirps light and breezy. The grass beneath her was soft, and she felt so comfortable laying down in it. She let out a soft sigh as she stared up at the canopy. It was rather nice. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling the morning air. The blurry image of red on black flashed behind her closed eyelids, and she tried to not let the disappointment take her. Just another dream that she couldn't remember all the way. Straining her mind, she tried to grasp for any more details to the dream, but all she could determine for sure was that there were two blobs of red and that they were people that she had known before and cared about.

Rene opened her eyes and sat up. "Whatever," she mumbled, irritated. She pulled the gold chain of the necklace out from underneath her shit and held the pendant in the palm of her hand. "Now what am I supposed to do about you?" she asked quietly. "I started all of this with a goal, and I'm going to follow it through. But where do I even start?" She leaned back on her free hand and twisted the pendant so that the sunshine reflected off of it. She regarded it almost carelessly, not expecting any clues. She had been meticulously inspecting it for months, and she wasn't about to find anything new about it now. She let it fall against her chest and hugged her knees, frowning. When she had planned her escape from the orphanage, she hadn't really thought of what she was going to do afterwards. She only had the broad goal of finding her family, but she'd never really considered how she was going to go about that. _Now I'm on my own, _she thought. _In a war zone. With no place to stay. No money. And about a few day's worth of food. _She hit herself in the head. "Great. Just _great, _Rene. You utter and complete moron." _Now I'm talking to myself…_

This was not good by any means. She needed a plan, and she needed one quickly. Somewhat reluctantly, she rose to her feet, wincing at the aches in her arms and legs. "One thing's for sure," she said, "I can't just sit around here." Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she started limping out of the woods. The road was only 50 yards away from the place where she had camped out. She hadn't wanted to stray too far from the road in case she got lost. Losing one's memories did present that possibility after all. It turned out to be a very good idea as she got her feet on the asphalt. Walking on a smooth surface was much more comfortable for her than trying to trek through bushes and other sorts of vegetation. Standing to the side of the road, a bright green sign rose out of the ground. "Tokyo 5 kilometers," she read. She shrugged. "I guess I'm going to Tokyo."

* * *

_This is not what I'd expected…_she thought as she stood on the sidewalk, staring at the city. Or what was left of it at least. She looked around her in disbelief and amazement. This wasn't what Tokyo was supposed to look like. Tokyo was supposed to be a bustling city, a metropolis overflowing with people rushing left and right trying to get to their jobs or run their errands. It was supposed to be vibrant with customers hurriedly running from store to store, and bright signs should be everywhere advertising some kind of product or service.

There was no way that the sight before her was anything like the Tokyo that she remembered riding through on the way to orphanage. Only a few of the shops were open, many of the rest boarded up with plywood. There were people in the streets, but not nearly as many as there should have been, and they moved slowly as though it pained them. Faces down, they trudged along the sidewalk, avoiding any contact or communication. Others were leaning against the buildings, moaning from injuries or begging for money or food. There seemed to be a dark aura over the place, and it made her feel uneasy. It was as though all the life had been sucked out of the city.

"Hey!" a voice barked, and Rene whirled around. A man in a dark black military suit was walking towards her. He wore a black helmet on his head with the visor up so that she could see his cold suspicious face. On his hip, a gun rested in its holster, and Rene's body stiffened as he rested a gloved hand on the weapon. "What are you doing?" he barked sharply, narrowing his eyes at her. "Don't you have something better to do than just stand there all day?"

Rene shook her head and took a nervous step back. "S-sorry," she stammered, holding her hands up, palms facing outwards. "I was just looking, sir." She could feel the sweat starting to form on her forehead.

The soldier rolled his eyes and gestured with his hand. "Well, get out of here then. Didn't you pay attention to the announcements? The governor is coming today."

"The governor?" Rene asked, but the soldier had already moved on to scolding the beggars leaning up against the wall. One of them was yelling at the black clad man in a crazed manner, and slightly scared, Rene turned away and started walking down the cracked sidewalk. She didn't really have a destination in mind, but she didn't want to stick around there anymore.

As she walked, she craned her head to look at all the gray, cold buildings and the utter lifelessness of the place. The air was so tense and just…hopeless. She couldn't remember ever seeing something like this before, and chills ran up and down her back. These weren't from being cold though; these chills were from her unease. The city felt dangerous, and she sent nervous glances in every direction, trying to make sure that nothing jumped out at her. It seemed likely in this place.

A soldier on the street glared at her as she walked by, and Rene cast her eyes down at her feet, avoiding eye contact. They were everywhere! Standing on every corner, watching the people with cold, suspicious eyes. _How do they live like this? _Rene wondered, as one soldier's sharp gaze followed her, making the hairs on the back of her neck stick up.

Not watching where she was going, she bumped into the back of some suit clad man. He quickly spun around, and Rene squeaked a bit from surprise. It seemed that she had surprised him too, for his eyes were wide, and his expression was nothing short of terror. "Sorry!" Rene exclaimed, a bit shocked at the man's state of alarm. Instead of acknowledging her, though, he faced forward again and picked up his pace, leaving her very confused. _That man…he looked terrified, _Rene thought. What kind of place was this?

She continued to walk, and this time made sure not to make contact with anybody. She needed expand on her plan and quickly. Wandering around this city was dangerous, she knew it. The few people that were out here weren't just aimlessly wandering around, and there had to be a reason for that. She cringed at the thought of the armed soldier that had scolded her earlier, and something told her that they were part of the reason. Cautiously, she lifted her head and turned her attention away from her feet. Her brow furrowed as she considered her options. Although it was broken and dilapidated, Tokyo was still the capital of Japan, and there had to be something useful somewhere. Some kind of records office. Although, it would be rather difficult to use a records office if she couldn't even remember her own name. Or maybe a clothing store. She had been told that she had been wearing boys clothes when she had been found. Maybe she'd be able to recognize them if she found them in a shop? Or maybe something to look at the possessions that she still had like the shoes or maybe the…

Rene stopped in her tracks at the storefront next to her. _Or maybe the necklace, _she thought, reading the sign above the door of the shop. It was chipped, and it looked like some of the edges of it had been burnt, but it was still legible. "Shizuya Jewelry," Rene read aloud as she peered through the window into the shop. There wasn't much in there, and nothing was placed in the display, but that didn't surprise her. Burglaries couldn't be too uncommon in such a desolate city. The store matched that image though, for it looked like it hadn't really been cared for. From what she could see, dust was making itself very comfortable on many of the items, and the place just looked dilapidated in general. But there was an "Open" sign hanging from the window, so maybe there were people in there. And she didn't really have any other plans at the moment. Maybe if she went in and asked about the necklace, they'd be able to give her some clues about it like who made it.

Looking over her shoulder to see if anybody was watching her, she opened the door and slipped into the shop. It was messier than she had thought. Dust literally coated everything, and dirt was scattered around the ground as though it had blown in. Spider webs and cobwebs alike dangled and hung from various objects and surfaces, and there was a musty smell like nobody had been in there for a long time. Below the counter, the empty display looked lonely as though it were once well cared for and then abandoned, left like trash. Very little light entered the room, and the whole place just seemed unused and abandoned.

_Thump._

Rene frowned at the sound and walked further into the shop. Or maybe it was not so abandoned. She turned in a circle trying to remember where she had heard the noise. The idea of rats crossed her mind, but she quickly dispelled that theory at the next noise she heard. It sounded like whispers, fast and furious. Based on the tone of the voices, it sounded like people arguing. Rene strained her ears and barely made out the words, "You big lump! They're going to find us!"

"Not if you don't shut your trap," another voice said, a man's voice. He sounded embarrassed and sort of distressed. "You're being louder than I am!"

No, rats did not make noises like that. Rene spun around in a circle trying to tell which direction the voices were coming from. "Hello?" she called out uncertainly.

The voices sudden stopped. "I told you…" one of them hissed softly, and there was another thumb followed by a pained grunt.

Rene looked over the counter, not finding anything. "I'm sorry to intrude," she called out loudly as she pulled away from the counter. "But I really need some help. The sign outside says that this is a jewelry store, and I have a necklace, and it's really important that somebody looks at it for me. It's my only clue to finding out who I am." She listened carefully, hoping that her plea would be heard. Silence, and she tugged on her hair, slightly disappointed. "It's true," she continued, praying that she could convince them. "I don't know who I am. I lost all my memories during the invasion six months ago. I don't even remember my own name," she admitted sadly.

She thought she'd heard a small "Aw" of sympathy.

"This is the only clue I have," she called out. "One of the only things I have left before I lost all my memories. I think somebody gave it to me, and maybe if you looked at it, you'd be able to help me figure out who."

One of them whispered, "Aw, listen to her. Maybe we can help her."

"What if it's a trick? I wouldn't put it past those dogs…"

"Please!" Rene cried out, begging. She knew that the likelihood of them helping her was dwindling rapidly. Her tone was urgent as she said, "I'm not trying to trick you, I swear! I just want to go home." The last sentence she said more softly and to her shame, rather pathetically. She wasn't quite sure what else she was going to do if she couldn't get some help. Getting help from the whispering jewelers was the only idea she had that could work.

To her despair though, there was silence.

Rene sniffed and straightened her back. "Fine. I apologize for disturbing you. I'll figure something else out," she said, trying to hold back the tears. Back to square one. Who knew how long it would take for her to find another jeweler in this messed up city.

Her footsteps were silent thanks to the layers of dust on the floor, and rubbing her eyes, Rene grabbed hold of the door. She was about to pull it open when there was suddenly another thud.

"Wait!"

Rene turned her head, her long brown hair brushing her shoulders. At the back of the store it seemed like the wall moved as a large rectangle piece of it opened like a door. Rene's eyes opened wide as a woman with light brown hair stood on the threshold. A slightly taller man with salt and pepper hair stood behind her, regarding Rene cautiously. The woman, on the other hand, had a soft, warm expression on her face, and she gently smiled at the girl. "Come on, dear, we'll help however we can."

* * *

"So you're trying to find your family," the woman said, handing Rene a warm cup of tea. She sat down across from her at the table as her husband was pulling a magnifying glass out from a desk. He sat next to the woman, whose name turned out to be Suki and who happened to be his wife.

Rene gratefully wrapped her cold hands around the cup and took a sip, enjoying the brief relief that the warm liquid brought to her cold body. The steam fogged her glasses. "That's right," she said, placing the cup back on the table and taking off her glasses to wipe the steam off with her ratty shirt.

It was much nicer in the room behind the shop than the shop itself. Everything was meticulously placed in an orderly, yet decorative fashion. A large bed was placed in the far corner of the room, and across from in was a wooden desk where all the jewelry tools were apparently kept. At the corner along the same wall as the bed was a tiny kitchen nook complete with a stove and refrigerator. The table they were sitting at sat at the last remaining corner. It was rather tiny and cramped, but it also felt homely. Suki had already told her about how they had taken to hiding out there after the invasion. Of course, the government knew about their location, but it kept them safe from the other less savory characters that had taken looting the neighborhoods and homes.

Suki pushed a plate of bread towards the girl. "Eat," she said encouragingly with a bright, enthusiastic smile. "You're way too thin! Did they ever feed you wherever you've been for the last few months?"

Rene felt herself blush at the sweet treatment. It had been awhile since anybody had smiled at her or showed her concern. She was touched but felt slightly guilty. It didn't look like the couple had much in the first place, and she didn't want to take all their food. Although it did look very good…But that'd be rude. Self consciously tugging at her hair, she muttered, "Not too much, no. But you don't have to go to so much trouble. I have some." She lifted her bag to prove it, but Suki shook her head vigorously.

"No, no, no!" she cried, putting her hands up. She almost sounded shocked. "You can save that for later. We don't mind at all, do we, Seishiro?"

Her husband pushed to plate closer towards Rene in answer. "Not at all." He smiled at her but then his expression turned grim, "I apologize, by the way, for our rude behavior. As you can tell, things get difficult here. We thought that you were the Yakuza or a tax collector. They both work for our 'esteemed ruler' now." His voice took on a disgusted tone as he said that, and Rene nodded.

"So that's why the city looks the way it does," she said. All the closed down shops and the guards and the hopelessness and despair…

Seishiro nodded. "Rasputin takes and takes and takes, leaving the country out to dry," he said bitterly. "The people can barely live as it is, and with all the new rules and restrictions, we're prisoners in our own country. Everywhere we go, everywhere we walk, we're being monitored."

Suki whacked the man upside the head. "Then you should watch what you say," she hissed. She rolled her eyes. "Baka." Turning her gaze back to Rene, she smiled sort of guiltily. "It's not that we don't think you're safe, Rene. It's just that you have to be really careful here. Bad things can happen if people find you suspicious. You understand, right?"

Rene nodded, and Seishiro clapped his hands together once. "Well, then," he said with an sheepish smile, and changing the subject, "all that depressing talk aside, let's take a look at this necklace of yours."

"Of course." Rene pulled the gold chain over her head and let it pool in the palm of her hand. The vase pendant shined in the light of the lamp, and Seishiro held out his hand so that Rene could drop the necklace into it.

The man took it carefully and held the vase up to the light. Suddenly his eyes widened. "No way," he breathed, turning it this way and that. A sudden light entered his eyes, and his face split with excitement. "Do you have any idea what this is?" he demanded, pointing a finger at the necklace.

Rene shook her head, surprised at the reaction. She loved it, but the necklace couldn't be that shocking, could it? "No," she said in a confused tone.

"This," he said dramatically, holding the necklace up in the air, "is a Hitachiin original!"

Suki gasped. "You're kidding, let me see!" The woman gently took hold of the gold chain as though handling something incredibly fragile. Shock spread across her face. "Oh, my God. I never thought I'd see one of these!"

Meanwhile, Rene pondered over Seishiro's statement. Hitachiin? Who was that? And why did the name sound so familiar? At the word, blurs of red seemed to pop up in her mind, and for some reason, her mind related the word to school. But that didn't make sense, it sounded like a name. A really important name… "Hitachiin?" she whispered, trying to rack her mind.

"Come on," Seishiro cried, still excited. "You have to know about Hitachiin Industries! They're famous!"

Rene frowned. "Famous?" Maybe that was why they were familiar…

Suki nodded enthusiastically, not noticing her guest's distress. "World wide." She brought her face closer to the pendant, observing it with incredulous eyes. "Look at the detail! And the color! I think this is their special paint formula!" She smiled at the girl. "It's beautiful. My guess is that it's one of a kind."

Her husband turned his attention to Rene. "They originally started out in Japan, but after the invasion, they had to totally move shop. They had headquarters in both Paris and Milan, so now that's where most of the work happens. But they've got stores everywhere."

"Of course, not many people can afford to go to them," Suki said, handing the necklace back to Rene, who held it in her closed hand against her chest. "Hitachiin designs don't come cheap. It's not stuff that the middle class would wear. You've got some very rich friends out there somewhere," she said.

Rene tried to process all of this. So this wasn't just any necklace then. "So, how would I find out who bought this for me?" she asked.

Seishiro leaned forward. "Well, it didn't have any marks that would specify that it was part of a collection, so my guess is that that was custom made, which makes your life easier. If it had been part of a collection, then it could have been sold anywhere. The custom items are generally made at the headquarters."

"So Paris, Milan, or Tokyo," Rene said. Suddenly her face fell. "And it was probably made in Tokyo," she said in a despondent voice. The couple's excited faces fell away. They all knew what that meant. If what they said was true, then the Japanese headquarters didn't exist anymore. Which would mean that finding out who had given her the necklace would be next to impossible. Traveling out of the country was forbidden. Suddenly she noticed that Suki and Seishiro were looking at each other. "What?"

They jumped in surprise, and Suki bit her lip. "Can you keep a secret, Rene?" she whispered with a totally different demeanor than before. A new seriousness was etched across her face, and she was looking at Rene with an urgent expression. Next to her, Seishiro was looking at her too with an equally worried expression, as though trying to convey just how important this was.

Slightly shocked, Rene nodded. "Yes."

Suki looked at her husband again, and he nodded. Sighing, she turned back to Rene and said, "We know some people that might be able to help you get out of the country. Now I know it's risky," she said, seeing Rene's alarmed face, "but if you really want to know who bought you that necklace, then it might be your only option."

The woman looked Rene in the eyes, and the girl found herself nodding. "Then let's do it," she said in a determined voice. She had a goal, and she would follow it through. She had promised.

Suki grinned in approval. "Excellent!" She accepted a piece of paper and a pencil from Seishiro, who had risen to get it. "Now you're going to have to follow these directions exactly as they're written," she said, starting to write.


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. It all goes to Bisco Hatori and all the people that will sue me if I claim otherwise.

A/N: (9/6) It's been awhile, I know. I'm sorry :( But here's the next chapter! I'd like to of couse start off by thanking everybody who is taking the time to read and review on this story. I really appreciate it. Also, I would like to clarify something about this chapter. There is an OC. I know that many of us, myself included, are not fans of OCs, but I promise, he is necessary to the plot and to the general awesomeness of the story. But please remember what I said at the beginning of this: there are no pairings. That includes our lovely Mr. OC. There will be no romance or love between him or any of the characters. That being said, he should be interesting. Mr. OC has quite an interesting role and past, so I hope that you will give him a nice warm welcome. That is all :)

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 10

The moon still hung in the sky, a bright white orb set against the pitch of black. The Houshakuji manor lay underneath it, absorbing the luminescence, making the white exterior of the mansion seem to glow. It was too early for any activity in the fancy, rich neighborhood, and nearly everybody was asleep. Nearly everybody.

Light, quick footsteps pattered through the finely manicured lawn, leaving imprints in the wet blades. They would be gone before morning. Light blonde hair flew through the air as a small, childlike head turned to see if he was being followed. Seeing nobody, he picked up the pace, and it was only a few moments before the tiny body sprinted into large cluster of trees surrounding the estate. It had almost been too easy. Not a single person had noticed. He didn't stop, however, and he forced his feet to make no sound against the twigs and various other materials on the ground. He knew that he wouldn't be caught at this point, but his martial arts training was kicking in like an instinct, and he couldn't hold it back even if he'd wanted to. It was ingrained in his blood. He let that same instinct guide him through the small woods, allowing him to dodge trees and bushes that he couldn't see and taking him to his destination.

After a few moments, a large iron gate loomed ahead, and the boy sped up. Taking a running leap, he easily cleared the barrier, landing on the other side at a crouch. The concrete of the sidewalk that he'd landed on didn't even scrape his hands. He straightened slowly, letting caution guide his movements. He strained his ears, listening for any sounds. Crickets sang all around him, but aside from that, there was nothing.

Several houses yards away, however, a small, black car sat frozen next to the sidewalk. Seeing it, the small boy jogged towards it with silent feet. He opened the door and slid in, closing it behind him. The glass separating himself from the front of the car rolled down, revealing a chauffer dressed in a black uniform and hat. The man stifled a yawn, and asked, "Where to, Monsieur Mitsukini?'

Hunny fastened his seatbelt and reached into the pocket of his pants to pull out a folded sheet of white paper. He stretched his arm out to pass the paper to the driver on the other side of the car. As the man took it and looked over it, Hunny asked, "Can we get there and back within the hour?"

The man began to plug the coordinates into the GPS on the dashboard of the car. It's green luminescence cast an eerie light on Hunny's young face, and small beeps filled the car as the driver pushed the buttons. "Not a problem, monsieur," the French driver said as he pulled out of the parking spot and sped down the empty street.

Hunny leaned back in his seat and let his head fall back against the dark leather. His dark brown eyes slid closed, but he wouldn't let himself fall asleep. No matter how tired he was, he had to stay awake just for the next few hours. There was something he had to do. Something he had to make sure of. Eyes still closed, he unfolded the sheet of paper on his lap. Raising his lids, the boy looked over the address on the paper with tired eyes and reread the list of books newspaper editions that he had written down. _I'm going to figure this out, Haru-chan, _He thought quietly. His hand curled into a small, determined fist, and a serious expression wrapped around his face._ I promise._

* * *

It was a pitiful sight. The curly black haired teenager gazed out the window of the limo with a frown on his face. How interesting…He had never seen anything like this. Feigning disinterest, he placed a bored expression on his face and rested his head in his hand. Beyond his reflection in the window, he could see the crumbling buildings. Their cracked and rugged faces sagged from their metal skeletons, and there were a couple that had massive sections that had fallen away. Several of the windows had been knocked out, leaving gaping black holes like eyes. The streets were relatively clear, with the exception of the bright patches of green grass that poked through the large cracks. He had seen pictures of Tokyo before, and they were nothing like this.

The most repulsive, however, were the people. He watched them as the limo drove by. Their reactions were all the same once they caught sight of the royal vehicle. Confusion, as though they weren't quite sure what they were seeing. Eyes widening as the realized that their suspicions were correct. A gasp of fear and surprise, and then they'd all spin around in a flurry, rushing for some sort of shelter to escape. They ran into each other, tripping and knocking others over in their scramble to find a building to hide in. It was almost like watching rats.

Next to him, the white haired dignitary, Rasputin, if he remembered correctly, was leaning back against his seat, his long hands folded on his lap. He gave a light chuckle as one of the running men twisted his ankle and fell to the ground, clutching the wounded appendage. "Gomon, would you be so kind as to radio one of the vehicles behind us and have them pick up that man? The hospital is apparently running out of subjects for the psychological experimentations."

Gomon, the hooded man across from them muttered darkly in response. With a smug smile, Rasputin turned back to the boy. "We're in the ghetto of the city now. All of the Blanks were moved to this area, leaving the central area blemish free. Pretty soon, it will be inhabitable enough for Tojiwarans to reside in, but that won't be able to happen until the area is thoroughly cleansed. For now, Ezekiel, my boy, you will be residing in the government mansion."

Ezekiel felt his eye twitch at the informality with which the man used his name. He turned with a dark glare in his hazel eyes. Annoyance filled every pigment of green and brown as he said in a lofty, superior tone. "_Lord_ Ezekiel, if you don't mind."

Rasputin raised his eyebrow in a mocking, amused way. "Lord?" The man reached into his pocket. "Well, you'll have to forgive me, _my lord, _but from what I've heard, that title no longer belongs to you, now does it?_" _he said removing a bright white envelope with a crimson seal from the cloth of his suit. Ezekiel's eyes widened at the sight of it, and he lunged forward, reaching for the letter. Rasputin pulled his hand backwards, holding the letter out of reach.

Ezekiel grit his teeth. "You give that to me!" he cried loudly, stretching his body as far as the seat belt would allow and reaching his hands as far as they could go. Rasputin laughed coldly and continued to twist the letter away, dodging each lunge. Across from them, Gomon rolled his eyes.

"You really want to know the contents of this letter, don't you?" the white haired man said, knocking a pale hand away and holding the envelope behind his back. Ezekiel ignored his words and tried to reach around the man's middle. "You already know most of it, don't you? Care to be refreshed?" Suddenly, a hand twisted in Ezekiel's curly black hair, and it pulled, forcing the teenager's head to be held against the glass window of the limo. Ezekiel's eyes widened as he realized what had happened. Rasputin leaned in close until their faces were inches apart. "Which parts do you not remember?" he whispered with a sick smile, clearly enjoying his performance. "The part where the Imperial Family called you a failure? Or a disgrace? Pretty strong words, don't you think?"

Ezekiel's lips curled in hate. "Shut up!"

"Or maybe the revocation of your title and position? Your inability to accomplish even the simplest of tasks?" He tapped the paper of the envelope against Ezekiel's nose.

The boy shook his head despite the tight grip on his hair. "You don't know anything," he growled almost animal like.

"Or maybe," Rasputin said much more seriously and cruelly, "the parts about how weak you are." At his words, Ezekiel stopped struggling. It was as though a somebody had punched him in the chest. "How you are unable to obey. What a coward you are? Yes," he said at the boy's shocked expression, "I know all about _that _event. It's no wonder His Majesty has cast you away. A dishonor."

Ezekiel felt tears prick his eyes as deep, overwhelming irritation flowed through his blood. But underneath it all was a sense of shame and embarrassment. How dare he bring that up? He felt his cheeks involuntarily flush in anger.

Rasputin chuckled lightly. "Oh, my, it seems I made you cry." The hand released his hair, and Ezekiel's body fell a few inches, and he slumped in his seat. Rasputin leaned back against the leather material. "It would be wise for you to try to keep me pleased. As you know, your redemption depends heavily upon how much I have deemed you acceptable. You want to return to Tojiwara with your status intact? You must go through me first. Remember that."

Ezekiel hung his head against his chest. Letting the resignation and the weakness that came with it wash over him. _Weakweakweakweakweakweakweak…_

"Rasputin," Gomon suddenly cried. Ezekiel rose his head in surprise. The urgency with which the man spoke confused him. The hooded man was staring out the window, and as the limo drove past, he spun around to watch the retreating object. His hood fell off, revealing his icy eyes and black hair.

Rasputin turned his gaze toward the window, and so did Ezekiel, curious to see what had alarmed the cold, unfeeling assistant and General. He peered through the glass, anxious as to what he might see. However, to his surprise, there was nothing there. The same crumbled buildings, the same cracked streets, and the same suffering beggars. The only thing there was a girl.

"Stop the car!" Rasputin called to the driver. The limo careened to a halt, and Ezekiel was able to see her better. Was this who had gotten the attention of the leaders of the invaded country. He could only see her back as she walked. Her skinny frame was clothed in filthy, ragged cloths, and long brown hair swished against her back.

"You saw her face, didn't you?" Gomon said quietly, watching her retreating form.

Rasputin nodded curtly. "But of course. It's definitely her. You don't mistake those eyes." He placed a hand against the window, and a cold smirk wormed its way across his face. "Who would have ever have guessed that it would be this easy to find you, little kitten?"

His voice caused a shiver to run down Ezekiel's spine. It was laced with evil intent, sure to cause pain. The men gazed intensely at the girl with hungry eyes, and Ezekiel frowned. There was nothing remarkable about her that he could see. In fact, she looked just like any other of the people he had seen today. Dirty, small, unmemorable. "The girl? Who is she? What's so special about her?"

Gomon glared at him with icy, piercing eyes, and to his shame, Ezekiel cowered underneath them. He could practically feel himself shrinking. "Shut your mouth, brat," the military leader hissed. He turned to Rasputin. "What do we do about her?"

Rasputin turned back around in his seat and held his chin with his hand. "Radio in and have her followed," he said with command in his voice. His wicked grin grew wider, showing teeth and making him look rather insane. "We can't lose her again, now can we?" He tapped on the window separating them from the driver, and the limo started driving again. As Gomon started to bark orders into the radio, Ezekiel turned in his seat to look out the back window. The girl rounded the corner and disappeared. Brow furrowing, the black haired teenager crossed his arms and leaned back into the leather seat, wondering why his guardians were so concerned about such an unextraordinary girl.

* * *

"You look awful."

Kyouya sat hunched in the mahogany chair with his face in his hands. He looked up at his father's words with a dark, lost look in his bloodshot eyes. The lavender circles that had rung them a few days ago had darkened to a deep purple that stood out on his pale white face. His uncombed hair fell on top of his glasses, and his hands were shaking with exhaustion. "You don't say," he muttered hoarsely.

His father looked down at him from behind the orderly desk. Kyouya thought that he might have seen a flash of concern behind the man's square glasses, but it disappeared before he could blink. The boy turned his gaze toward the ground. _Of course, _Kyouya thought bitterly. _Ootoris don't feel things like _concern. _God forbid you show any emotion or care. _

He saw his father turn towards the window behind the desk. The sun shone through it, and Kyouya wished that he would close the blinds. After staying in the darkness of Tamaki's room for so many hours, the sudden change of lighting was hurting his eyes. Everything was too bright. Too much sun. How could a place be so damn sunny? It was disgusting. He wished that it would rain. That fit his mood so much better than this awful, never ending brightness.

He didn't even know why he bothered coming. He wished he hadn't. He wanted to be back at Houshakuji mansion with Tamaki and Kaoru and Hikaru and Hunny and Mori.

"You know, I was going to have you marry her," his father said to the window. A sharp pang pierced his chest at the mention of _her, _and he felt himself flinch. He wouldn't think her name, so he willed the pain away and tried to avoid those six letters.

Kyouya looked up from the ground, noting his father's stance. The man stood awkwardly by the glass, as though unsure whether to look at his son or outside. His glasses flashed in the light, hiding his eyes. A move that Kyouya knew very well. He gritted his teeth. The light annoyed him.

"Well, you clearly didn't spend much time on that plan," Kyouya said scathingly. "I would have never of done it." His father raised an eyebrow at the tone, and Kyouya himself was even surprised. He had never spoken so rudely to the man before. But he had never lost somebody before either. How dare he say something like that… How dare he bring her up. He didn't know her. To him, she was just another chess piece to use and play with. She wasn't a real person to him like she was to Kyouya.

"_But I've learned something. Kyouya-senpai is really a nice person, isn't he?"_

"We cared about each other," Kyouya continued much more softly, "but not like that. She was like Fuyumi, but even if she wasn't, I would never have brought her into _this." _He waved his hand around the cold, immaculate office. The sharp corners, the almost robot like organization. Everything he used to love, but now he hated it. He hated the icy color of the walls and the crisp stack of papers on the desk. The pressed suit and the mechanical tick of the silver wall clock. No personality, no emotion, no _anything. _He hated it. However, he pulled himself together and straightened in his chair. "But you didn't ask me to come to discuss your failed arranged marriages, did you?" he asked wearily. "Why am I here?"

His father turned from the window and watched his son for a moment. Kyouya briefly wondered why he was scrutinizing him, but the thought quickly vanished. It didn't matter. He just wanted this to be over as soon as possibly. His father sat in the large chair and folded his hands together. "I understand that you are in a lot of pain, my son," he said, "but the way in which you are handling it is detrimental to your goals."

Obsidian eyes blinked. "My goals?" he asked with a frown.

The older man gave a solemn nod and pushed his glasses up his face. "There are many things you still have yet to accomplish, Kyouya. Your future is at stake here. As painful as it is, you cannot afford to let yourself get distracted."

"Distracted?" Kyouya breathed, processing the words. Suddenly realizing what was being said, Kyouya's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped in shock. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. A distraction? A nauseous feelings churned his stomach. How could he say that? How could he even _imply _in any way that she was…that she had ever been just a mere _distraction?_ A hindrance? A hot anger rolled through him, setting his nerves on fire and making his blood boil. He clenched his fists and glared at the man behind the desk who had always seemed so far away. It was hard to imagine that he had ever been anything more than the robotic copy of a man. A harsh, deep chuckle rumbled in the back of his throat. _Of course. I shouldn't have been surprised._

The bewildered robot seemed for the first time to be at a loss of words, but the black haired teenager felt no pity for it. It looked at him from behind those obscuring glasses. "Kyouya…"

The laughter suddenly froze in the young man's throat. Without warning, Kyouya shot to his feet, making his chair fall with a clatter. The anger in his chest crescendoed, and it took all of his strength to keep himself from reaching across the oak desk and hitting his father. It seemed to course through him like a dragon, ferociously roaring and breathing fire through his system. It almost scared him how much he wanted to harm the man before him. The cold, scheming man that cared only for his company and profits and numbers. He was so angry. He could hear the old rational part of his mind scolding him. _Calm down. _He saw the faces of his friends in his head. He couldn't afford to do anything foolish. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. In a strained voice, Kyouya said, "Consider your message delivered." With that he spun on his heel and marched across the office.

Behind him, his father stood up. "Kyouya!" he called out, stretching his hand out to his son, but before he could say anything else, the boy walked across the threshold and closed the door. The resulting thud seemed louder than it actually was, and for a moment, Yoshio Ootori stood frozen in place, his hand still hanging in the empty air. With a sigh, he slowly lowered the hand and collapsed in the expensive leather chair. He rested his elbows on his desk and rubbed is eyes wearily. "Oh, Yuki," he breathed, addressing the wooden picture frame on his desk, "what they hell do I do with this?" The image of the black haired woman behind the glass looked at him unmoving.

A few floors below, Kyouya continued his quick pace, ignoring the blurriness that was starting to gather behind his eyes. A few drops of water ran down his cheeks, and he furiously wiped them away with the sleeve of his red sweater, leaving dark streaks on the material. _Control yourself! _he scolded, but his admonishment did nothing for him. That had been happening a lot over the last two days. It was as though his eyes had a never ending supply of tears. It was like drowning. The inability to breathe properly, the mucous building up in his nose and throat, and the water. All the water. All control had been lost. Not really paying attention to what he was doing, he collapsed against one of the many spotless gray walls in the building. His back hit it with a thump, and he slowly slid down it, feeling his clothing bunch up as he slid. When he hit the ground, he brought his knees up against his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He buried his face in the black fabric of his pants. Oh, if the boy he was six months ago could see him now. Broken. Everything was broken.

"Kyouya?" a voice said, and the black haired teenager raised his tear stained face. Tamaki stood before him with a worried expression on his face. His violet eyes met Kyouya's, and he reached out a hand.

Kyouya took the hand and let himself be pulled to his feet. He didn't even bother to smooth his wrinkled clothing. The mask had already shattered irreplaceably, and no amount of glue or debt would be able fix it. "What are you doing here?" he asked his blonde friend, noting how thick and clogged his voice sounded.

Tamaki pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and passed it to Kyouya, who gratefully took it. As the black haired boy lifted his glasses to wipe his eyes, Tamaki started walking to the large glass doors at the front of the foyer. Kyouya followed him, and their footsteps clacked against the cold tile floor. "We know how hard it is to deal with your father," Tamaki said quietly without the usual exuberance and enthusiasm. The French boy dragged his feet against the floor, and a frown marred the normally cheerful face. His hands were buried deep into the pockets of his black pants, and his posture was hunched and folded. It was as though all the energy had been sucked out of him.

Kyouya followed him silently as they each pushed open one of the double doors and walked into the blinding sunlight. Holding his hand up to cover his eyes, he looked up at the glowing orb in the sky. White clouds drifted lazily through the clear blueness like sails floating in a sea. He didn't even realized that he had stopped in the middle of the long pebbled driveway until Tamaki sat on the ground by his feet.

Confused, he looked down at the top of the blonde's head. "What are you doing?"

Tamaki looked up at him before leaning back against the grey pebbles, folding his lanky arms behind his head. "I'm tired," he said closing his eyes. Kyouya blinked in surprise at how dark his friend's eyelids were. It almost looked like he had gotten punched. "You do realize that you're lying in the middle of my father's driveway?" he stated, raising a dark eyebrow.

Tamaki gave a rather ungentlemanly snort. "Who cares?" He blindly reached up a hand and lightly tugged on Kyouya's black pants, urging him to join him on the ground. With a light sigh, Kyouya bent his legs and lowered himself into a sitting position before lying back on the smooth pebbles. They were hard against his back and rubbed against some of the many knots in his muscles. It felt sort of pleasant, but Kyouya didn't want it to. He wanted to feel the pain of the knots in his back, he wanted the stress and the hurt. Anything to distract him from the more obvious, more piercing hurt that he was going through. A breeze rustled the trees and blew black and blonde locks of hair around two pairs of pale, frowning faces. Turning his head slightly, Kyouya looked at his best friend. His eyes were still closed, and his breathing was deep and slow, but Kyouya knew that the French boy wasn't sleeping. How could he sleep? It was inconceivable, impossible…

"You know," he said, "they're going to get worried if we don't get back soon."

Tamaki hummed lightly. "I know." His eyelids lifted slowly, revealing sad, violet eyes. "It's strange, don't you think?" he asked, his gaze focused on the sky above the friends. "How even though everything has changed, nothing has."

Kyouya folded his hands on top his stomach as he watched the clouds roll across the sky. He could see the blonde through the corners of his eyes. "Explain."

A sigh escaped Tamaki's throat, and he waved his hand in a circle, addressing the environment in general. "Everything is just the same as it was before," he whispered. "The wind still feels the same. The sun is just as warm and bright, and night falls at the same time, and it's still just as dark. Even the stars. They haven't changed at all." He turned his head to the side, and seeing the movement in his peripheral vision, Kyouya did the same. Their eyes met, and Kyouya wasn't surprised to see water running down the blonde's cheeks. "You know what my mother did this morning?" he asked, his voice taking on a slightly higher pitch. "She tried to make me eat breakfast. And it confused me. While I was too sick to even think about eating, there were people doing just that downstairs. And people are at the park right now, playing. Or going to the museums or shopping or just fooling around!" The boy raised his fist and slammed it against the pebbles on the driveway. "How does that make any _sense?_" he demanded, his breaths coming in shuddering gasps.

Kyouya didn't respond. He didn't think he could even if he wanted to. He knew what Tamaki was thinking. How was it possible that life could go on while their world was crumbling apart around them? How could people go on with their daily routines or laugh or _smile _when somebody had been stolen from the earth. They didn't know her, but surely, when a life as pure and bright as _hers _left the world, it left some kind of affect. Why hadn't everybody frozen in their tracks at the horror of what had happened? Why hadn't they dropped everything at the shock of it and thrown their hands up in the air in despair? Why hadn't they all shed a tear for the disappearance of one of the only truly, wholeheartedly _good _people left in the world. How could all these people not know that she was gone? It was silly, he knew. Life doesn't stop with death, and none of these people knew that she had existed. But she _did. _She had stood next to him and rolled her eyes at him and said he was kind and stood up to his tyrant of a father and saved his best friend and made him think and smile. She had existed and lived, just as much, if not more so, than he did. Shouldn't that count for something?

So he couldn't answer. Not really. Because while his best friend was looking for some kind of answer, some kind of reassurance, he had nothing to offer. For he was just as confused and just as outraged at this realization of facts as Tamaki was.

* * *

It was sunset by the time that Rene reached her destination. Suki had warned her that the journey would take awhile, but she didn't know that she would be walking for the majority of the day. She knew that she was close, though, when a large wall of brick cropped up on the right of the sidewalk. Exhausted, she gave a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall. Her breaths came in small pants, and her tiny, thin limbs were shaking. A wave of dizziness ran over her as she braced herself up against the brick.

"I guess," she panted, "going six months without eating or walking much will do this to you." She rolled her shoulders a bit and winced as the hard brick put pressure on one of the bruises on her back. The bruises didn't exactly help matters along. A cold gust of wind rushed through the street, and Rene shivered, squeezing her eyes shut and hugging her body tightly. When the wind had passed, she tiredly opened her eyes a small amount. Her lids felt heavy, but it was almost night time, and there was a curfew. And she really didn't want to be caught outside after that. Her heart jumped at the thought of the stories that Suki had told her about those who had stayed out too late. She pushed herself off the brick and started walking again with a slight limp. She had to lean a bit on the wall with one hand, but she was able to move fine like that. And so she shuffled down the sidewalk.

The cold sweat running down her face made her glasses slide down her face some, and she wearily pushed them back up her nose. _Almost there now, _a voice in her mind said, but Rene wasn't quite sure how she knew that. Nor did she really care as she dragged her aching feet along the concrete sidewalk. She just hoped that it was right. And so she thanked every god she could think of when she saw the gates to the school a few meters ahead of her.

The sight of the gate seemed to give her a new energy, and a relieved smile lit up her face as she picked up the speed to her hobble. It was tall, and the iron that it was made of curved in elaborate spirals down the bars. When she reached the gate, a strange burnt smell assaulted her nose. Her tiny hands took hold of the bars, and she peered inside. She gasped. _What kind of school is this?_

Beyond the bars was the most extravagant campus she had ever seen. Huge, beautiful buildings loomed before her, their shadows covering the entirety of the campus. They were almost like miniature mansions, Western in style and ostentatious to the point of ridiculousness. A large fountain of baby angels rested in the middle of the long, curving walkway, and it even had a clock tower. Rene's mouth dropped open. A _clock tower? _What kind of school had a clock tower? As her eyes roamed the campus, they crossed across the bars of the gates, and she saw a small glint of light. Frowning, she zeroed her gaze on the curving bar, and another gasp escaped her throat. "Gold?" she exclaimed and brought her face in for a closer look. Indeed, there were a few flecks of the bright metal scattered along the bent and damaged gate. The majority of it had obviously been picked and scraped away, but there were a few flakes here and there. Rene rolled her eyes in exasperation and disbelief. "Gold. They had put _gold_ on the gate." It was no wonder that the school had been one of the first targets of the invasion. Suki had told her that this had been a school for the super rich before the invasion, but seriously? "Damn rich bastards," she muttered and froze at her words, which sounded so familiar. Where had she heard that?

She shook her head. She could figure all of that out later. She was at her destination, but she still had more to do if she wanted to get out of Japan. Turning her head to make sure that nobody was watching her, she experimentally shook the gates. A few loud clangs rang out into the street from the clashing metal, and her heart leaping into her throat, Rene froze. She strained her ears, listening for the clatter of footsteps or the bangs of guns. Nobody came though, and she let out the breath she had been holding. _Okay, obviously that's not going to work. _As she thought that, a light bulb lit up in her mind. She looked down at her body. She _was _very thin, after all…Sucking in her stomach and crossing her fingers for luck, she slowly and cautiously pushed her body between the bars of the gate. It was a tight fit, but after a few seconds she was on the other side. She was in.

She turned around to face the collection of buildings before her. There was nothing holding her back now. Taking a deep breath, she began to walk down the curving walkway. Above her, the sun continued to sink, making the shadows of the buildings darker and longer. Now that she was inside, the damage to the campus was all the more obvious. Rene turned her head this way and that trying to take it all in. Obviously the Tojiwarans had felt not mercy for the decorate architecture. All the windows had been punched out, and the glass was still scattered across the ground, crunching beneath her shoes. A few gaping holes had been blown into the buildings, and large pieces of rubble lay like corpses in the sea of weeds that could have once been called a lawn. A few vines scaled the face of the brick, which was a deep black that didn't seen right to Rene. She strode toward the side of one of the structures and ran a finger down the side of it. Pulling her hand away she saw a streak of light pink on the surface of the brick, and a black dust now coated her finger. Her eyes widened. _Ash. _She wiped her finger on the fabric of her dress. That explained the burnt smell.

She turned her head upward and spun in a circle, looking at her surroundings. For some reason, the sight of the destroyed campus made her heart ache. A deep sadness took her over, and it bothered her to see the poor, desolate school like this. It was an awful feeling that filled her chest. A lump started to form in her throat, and Rene swallowed it down. It was overly extravagant and needlessly luxurious, but still, she could see that it had once been beautiful. And warm and welcoming. She could _imagine _how warm it was. Tears stung in the back of her eyes. She pressed her thumbs against them. "This is stupid," she muttered before lifting her lids again. She placed her hand against the fabric of her shirt, feeling the necklace underneath it. She couldn't stop now.

Forcing herself to continue, she hugged her arms around her thin frame and started walking again. The building before her seemed to grow taller and taller as she walked, and soon she was enveloped in its shadow. She had to crane her neck to see the top of it. _The South Building, _a voice in her mind said. The stairs leading up to the large double doors were cracked and discolored from lack of care. The handrail felt rough beneath her skin as she held on it to ascend the small staircase. At the top of the stairs, the tall double doors seemed much taller, and there were deep dents in the surface. It was as though they had been rammed with a battery or something. Hesitantly, she ran a hand across its surface. "There's something strange about this place," Rene muttered quietly. There was something about it that she couldn't put her finger on, and it bothered her. Another gust of wind blew through the campus, and her clothing and long hair billowed and danced in the wind. Taking a deep breath, Rene wrapped her hand on a ornate door handle. _Guess it's now or never, _she thought, and with all the strength she had left within her body, she heaved the door open.

The hint of a burnt smell that she had smelled outside transformed into a strong, potent odor that assaulted her nostrils. A small gagging sound escaped her mouth, and Rene covered both her mouth and her nose with her hand. _The fire must have started on the inside, _she thought as she slipped through the doorway. She turned back hesitantly towards the large door and felt nervous butterflies beat their wings within her stomach. She didn't want to close the door. It would feel too much like being trapped if she did, but then again, there were still patrols in the streets. What if they noticed the open door and came to investigate? With a slightly shaky hand, she reached out and pushed the door back into place with a soft thud that resounded throughout the room.

Turning around, she looked to see what kind of room she had entered. She spun around to get a full view. "Wow…" she said, gazing around her. She stood in the middle of a large foyer that was several stories tall. There was a large hole of sky where part of the roof used to be, and a large chandelier lay crumbled and shattered on the marble floor along with various pieces of debris. Despite that though, certain parts of magical beauty still remained. On what was left of the ceiling was a large Renaissance painting. Rene could only make out bits and pieces of it due to the damage from the smoke and the elements, but what was left clearly showed what a masterpiece it was. A large staircase, or what was left of it, covered in the charred remains of a red carpet wound up the building and gave way to several balconies and catwalks. A few hallways branched off in the bottom floor, and several pieces of broken stone busts littered the floor. The walls were charred too, and the remains of several frames hung lifeless and empty against them. The dying light of the sunset cast a few spots of light into the foyer and onto the floor. Rene walked further into the building until she was standing in one of those illuminated spots. She watched her shadow grow longer and longer against the floor.

A calm feeling settled within her chest, slowing down her heartbeat and evening out her breathing. Whatever apprehension she had felt when she had entered the school ebbed away, leaving a strange feeling inside her. She couldn't ever remember feeling something like this before. Like she didn't have to worry about anything or have to be concerned about getting hurt. Like nothing bad could happen to her here. It was a peaceful feeling almost like being…"Safe," she said quietly, hitting the palm of her left hand with her right fist. That was it. She felt safe here. There was something about this place that made her feel protected and okay. It was something akin to what she felt immediately after she awoke from her strange dreams.

All of a sudden, a dizzy feeling overwhelmed her. It clouded her head, making it fuzzy, and multicolored dots exploded across her vision. With a small groan, Rene lowered herself to the ground and crouched on her knees and her right hand, while she pressed the heel of her left hand into her forehead. In the dark recesses of her mind, a scene played out.

_A sparkling chandelier hanging above the red, carpeted ground, emitting a bright light that extended all across the foyer. A long majestic staircase made of light pink marble rising up and then extending into two separate ones that wrapped around the building. The sparkling floor, clear enough to see one's reflection. Masterpieces of art all over the place, on the ceiling, in elegant frames. Fluffy paintings of scenery and smiling figures playing or studying. Moving patches of yellow and blue, never stopping, always in motion. A few long windows giving magnificent views of the garden outside, and a large clock tower, ringing out the time with several long gongs…_

Rene shook her head furiously, trying to get rid of the spots blocking her vision. She felt weak all of a sudden, and her exhaustion was all the more pronounced. _Hallucinations, _the logical part of her mind said. It made sense after all. She was more tired than she could ever remember being, and despite the fact that she had already eaten that morning, the was still undernourished, and it had greatly affected her stamina. But still…Rene furrowed her brow. _Could that really have just been a hallucination? Is there any chance that it could be something else?_

Suddenly, several pairs of heavy footsteps met her ears. Rene raised her head in confusion, still disoriented from her dizzy spell. Her eyes widened as a deep, angry voice called, "It came from over here!"

Rene gasped and quickly pushed herself to her feet, but she had risen too fast and nearly fell over again. More spots formed in her vision, and partially blind, she groped through the air to find an object to steady herself with. Her hand met the smooth, charred marble of the staircase handrail, and she gripped it with white fingers and knuckles. She leaned against it, putting all her body weight on top of it. She felt her stomach drop and her heartbeat speed up as a heavy boom echoed across the large foyer as a large door was forced open.

"There she is!" another voice called, and Rene blinked furiously to ease her vision. When all the spots had left her eyes, her eyes widened, and a huge, all consuming terror seized her. She opened her mouth, drawing in a breath for a scream, but the suddenly, a gun was pointed at her, close enough for point blank. "Don't you dare," a voice growled, and Rene bit her lip, holding the scream in. Her breaths came in huge gasps, and her chest rose and fell rapidly against her shirt.

Before her, four tall, bulky men dressed in black stood glaring at her with their lips curled in dark, condescending sneers. Their clothing was run down and ragged like hers, and they too were covered in dirt and filth, but what she didn't have were the big, heavy looking guns that each member of the party carried at the ready. The man at the front, who was pointing his gun at her, took another step forward, making it where the cool metal of the weapon was pressed against the top of her chest. Rene turned her head away, and to her shame, a small whimper escaped her throat. A hand reached out and seized her chin, and Rene's head was forced to turn so she had to look directly into the armed man's eyes. The man had the scariest face she had ever seen, all anger and rough edges that looked like all he ever did was glare and intimidate. Dark red hair spilled down onto his shoulders, and Rene felt her body start to shake with fear. The man barred his teeth at her. "Now," the man said, "state your name! Tojiwaran scum."


	12. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all goes to Bisco Hatori and the people who will sue me if I claim otherwise.**

**A/N: (11/22) Let me just apologize and say that I am sooo sorry! There is no excuse for how long I took to upload this. I'm just a loser, haha. Well, now it's up. Hopefully the sheer length will make up for how long it took me. 20 pages! This is my longest chapter yet. A very large thank you to everybody who is still reading this story and all the reviews/author alerts/story alerts/etc. I am incredibly flattered. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 11

_"The sweetest thought, I had it all_

_Cause I did let you go_

_ All out moments keep me warm_

_ When you're gone._

_All my thoughts are with you forever_

_ Until the day we'll be back together_

_ I will be waiting for you."_

_Bittersweet, Within Temptation_

Rene sat in a huddle on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest and clutching the black cloth of her pants like a lifeline. Her breath left her lips in shallow, shuddering gasps, and she shivered. It was cold. Very, very cold. She pulled the thin sleeves of her jacket over her hands, trying to keep them warm. The men guarding her glared down at her accusingly, and she turned her head away from them, avoiding their stares. She was uncomfortable enough without having to worry about the suspicious looks. The tile beneath her was hard and cold, and her back was getting sore. The unforgiving surface didn't help her bruises any, and the black and blue marks were aching. That wasn't the worst though. The worst was the anticipating fear that clawed at her stomach.

How much longer was she going to have to sit there? The sun had gone down long ago, and now a deep darkness had settled around the campus. The stars winked down from a large window, and her worrying intensified. She must have been sitting there for at least an hour now. What was taking them so long? What were they talking about? _What if they don't believe me? _she thought, and she shook her head. No, she couldn't think like that. Thinking like that would only make her panic more, and she couldn't handle that. She had to be strong. She had to be composed. If she didn't…

A door opened, and the scary faced, red haired man entered the hallway. Lord Kasonoda, he'd told her his name was. He walked over to her, and the group of gunmen promptly stood aside, allowing him access. "Lord Kasonoda-sama!" the cried, saluting their leader.

Lord Kasonoda waved his hand. "That's enough," he growled, and he looked down at Rene. The girl swallowed nervously and slowly raised herself to her feet. Her whole body ached from sitting in that position for so long, but she ignored it as she faced him. She wrapped her arms around herself and waited for the man to speak.

Kasonoda looked at her for a moment before sighing. "They've agreed to see you," he growled at her, making her flinch. She cursed herself for that moment of weakness, knowing that it had been born from her time at the Orphanage, but Kasonoda didn't respond. Instead, he turned around and started walking. He only took a few steps, however, before he paused and looked over his shoulder to give her an intimidating glare. Rene flinched again and focused her gaze on his shoulder, not wanting to meet his eyes. "And let me assure you," he said fiercely, "it would be in your best interests to not try anything funny." He pat the pocket of his long coat, and Rene's eyes widened, knowing that a weapon was concealed there. "Do you understand?"

Rene nodded weakly. "H-hai," she stuttered, once again cursing herself mentally. Kasonoda raised his eyebrow at her before making a "che" noise, and he started walking again. Rene hurried after the man as best as she could with a limping leg, but the gang leader refused to slow down for her. Rene grit her teeth and painfully picked up her pace.

Unfortunately, they didn't go through the door that Kasonoda had entered from, instead taking an alternate route down the long hallways. It made sense, she supposed. They obviously wanted to keep their secrets safe from the potential Tojiwaran spy, but she still couldn't help being slightly annoyed by the situation. She was so tired, and everything hurt. The random pieces of rubble and debris strewn across the tiled floor didn't help her cause much either.

The inner hallways of the South Building were nearly as dilapidated and crumbling as the entrance. The only difference was that the fire that had burnt the majority of the school hadn't been able to reach the upper levels, but otherwise, the destruction was just as devastating. Large gaping holes in the walls revealed patches of the classrooms on the other side, abandoned and abused by the elements. Some of the windows had been shattered, letting the wind float through and carry random pieces of loose leaf paper in its breeze. In the darkness, they were almost ghost-like, drifting through the hallways like spectral beings bound to haunt the school for all eternity. Several marble statues had been destroyed, leaving pale white and broken pieces of rock to scratch against the once pretty pink floors. Some of the faces looked up at her, their gazes pleading and anguished, and Rene had to turn her head away, preferring not to look at the now demolished art. She couldn't escape, however, the random patches of dark brown splattered all along the walls and floors, long dried up and stained. Rene felt her stomach twist and her heart ache at the sight of those, and she had to remind herself to keep breathing. Who had died in that specific spot? Whose life was cut short? A person her own age who probably had had a life and loved ones. The destruction repulsed her.

"It's disgusting," she muttered weakly, her face twisted in horror and her eyes wide and shocked.

"That's the Tojiwarans for you," Lord Kasonoda said, startling her out of her thoughts. He looked around at the devastation sadly, as though he had already seen it too many times before.

Rene frowned. "Did you," she hesitated, "did you lose somebody in all of this?" she asked cautiously.

The Yakuza leader barked a laugh. "Haven't we all?" he demanded. They walked past a lonely briefcase on the ground, still fastened and abandoned. Kasonoda looked at it for a moment and sighed, his gruff disposition dropped for the moment. "My son used to go here," he said. "He got out fine, but…" he looked around the hallway, and Rene did too, taking it all in. "A lot of kids died here. I may have been a Yakuza lord, but kids. Kids are a totally different matter." He shook his head and clenched his fists. "That's why I'm here."

Rene nodded, stunned at his declaration. Her wide, sad eyes looked around at the broken hallway. All those people…The girl wiped a stray tear from her eye and felt something akin to grief fill her heart. It was strange, but at the same time it felt totally natural to mourn those faceless, nameless students as though she had known them.

"Here we are," Kasonoda said gruffly, his rough disposition back. Rene looked up to see a pair of double doors. They were a dark black color that looked rather strange next the light pink color that the rest of the hallway had. They were not nearly as tall as the majority of the doors in the South Building, but they weren't small either. There door handle was rather grotesque with little gold skulls and thorny vines wrapping around the metal. It was almost occult, which in Rene's opinion, seemed very strange for such an elite academy. She raised an eyebrow, and Kasonoda, seeing her expression, rolled his eyes. He took hold of the doorknob. "Stupid occult magicians," he muttered as he opened the door. Rene blinked in surprise.

Every inch of the walls and the floors were coated with black, but unlike the exterior of the campus, this shade of black seemed to be the room's actual color rather than an ash induced darkness. A few skull decorated candles hung on the walls, their flames giving off a soft, luminescent glow. Dumped and forgotten in a corner were several strange, dark items like skulls, voodoo dolls, crosses, and several textbooks full of strange writings. They lay there gathering dust amidst the bustle of activity that surrounded them. All around the room, people were rushing around, completing various tasks. A dark haired, teenage girl jogged past her, carrying a large pile of papers, and Rene had to step to the side to allow her past. In a corner, a man sat at a computer, furiously typing away and barking orders into the headphones and microphone. Two other men were bent over a map, arguing amongst themselves, and a woman had her nose buried deep inside the pages of a large volume, occasionally pulling away to scribble something down on a sheet of paper. Several more people were rushing around, carrying large boxes. None of them raised their heads or acknowledged their entrance, too wrapped up they were in their work.

Rene stared open mouthed at the energy filled scene. This was so much more than she had been expecting. Kasonoda prodded her in the back, knocking her out of her awe. "Come on," he said, and he started weaving through the crowded black room. Rene followed him, trying to keep up. Nobody paid them any attention, and more than once, Rene nearly bumped into the scurrying people. Never the less, she determinedly hobbled across the busy floor, trailing after the yakuza lord.

Kasonoda approached a desk and placed the bottoms of both hands flat upon it, his figure towering over the wood. When Rene finally caught up, she too, braced herself against the wood, trying to keep herself from falling. She was so tired. She looked up, and across from the desk, a white haired, bespectacled man sat, propping his legs up on the table. Despite the pale hair, he didn't look old at all. In fact, he seemed to be somewhere within his mid-thirties with a tall, slim posture and a perfectly smooth face. A bright, yet cunning grin spread across his face. "Oh, Kasonoda-chi!" he cried joyfully, clapping his hands. "You brought me a new friend!"

Rene blinked in surprise at the cheerful outburst and looked down at the man in confusion. Lord Kasonoda, on the other hand, looked anything but amused. He glared down at the smiling grin with nothing but malice. "Shut it, idiot," he growled, his eye twitching. He gestured toward Rene. "Suki and Seishiro apparently sent her over."

Behind the man's round glasses, green eyes looked Rene up and down. In a single fluid motion, the man swung his legs off the desk, got to his feet, and leaned across the wood. Rene's eyes widened in surprise, and she took a step back as the man leaned very close into her face, invading her personal space. "Does she have a name?" he asked, still looking into her face.

Rene felt a spark of irritation. How rude. She was standing right there. "Rene," she said, struggling to keep her voice polite.

"Hm." The white haired man straightened up and placed a hand on his chin. "And no last name?" he asked curiously, eyebrows raised.

Kasonoda reached into his pocket and pulled out the white sheet of paper that Rene had given him earlier. He handed it over to the white haired man, who snatched it out of his grip in a single fast movement. The man carefully unfolded it and looked it over. As he did so, Kasonoda explained, "Apparently she lost all her memories six months ago. Just escaped from the Orphanage last night."

The white haired man whistled. "Orphanage 3, huh?" he said admiringly, "That's supposed to be one hell of a place." He looked back up at Kasonoda. "And this has been checked by intelligence, I assume?"

Kasonoda nodded. "She's clear."

The white haired man clapped his hands together and smiled, tilting his head a bit. "Wonderful! I can take it from here then!"

Kasonoda nodded. He looked down at Rene and clapped her shoulder, making her shift slightly from the new pressure with a small cry of surprise. The yakuza leader turned around and started walking away. "Good luck, kid!" he called over his shoulder.

Rene straightened herself and turned, watching him. "Thanks!" she called back before he got lost in the sea of bustling people. Rene smiled.

The white haired man clapped his hands together again. "Now," he said exuberantly, "while Lord Kasonoda goes off to protect the barrier, why don't we get you set up? My name is Sutori Chosha." He waved the white piece of paper around in his hand. "So, Suki says that you're trying to get out of the country. France, Italy. Pretty ambitious don't you think?"

Rene frowned. "What do you mean?"

Sutori smirked. "Well, look at yourself. You're barely standing," he said with a casual wave in her direction. Rene bit her lip, knowing that she couldn't really deny it. Her knees were shaking, and the only thing holding her up was the rough wood of Sutori's desk. Her knuckles were turning white from gripping it so hard. She was skeletally thin and had bruises racing up and down her body, and she couldn't defend herself if her life depended on it. But still…

Rene raised her head and looked the white haired man straight in the eye. Determination blazed on her face as she said firmly, "I may not look like much, but there is something that I have to do. Something important. And I will complete it whether you help me or not."

Sutori barked a laugh and raised his hands in defense. "Merely stating facts, Rene-chan," he giggled. He crossed his arms and grinned at her. "I do love the determination though. Very heroine-esque. It works."

Rene frowned and shook her head. "I'm not a heroine," she denied.

The white haired man chuckled and looked at her with sharp, mischievous eyes. "Well, you should fix that because I have a feeling that you're going to need to be if you really want to do this." Before she could respond, Sutori gracefully fell into his seat and yanked open a drawer, pulling out a laptop. "You'll need a cover story, some money, a guide. We'll have to get you some documents too, but that's the easy part. It's been awhile since we've sent somebody to France. "

Rene blinked in surprise. "France?"

"Of course." Sutori set the computer to the side and took a pad of paper out from his desk. "You've heard of the Underground Railroad?" He didn't give her a chance to respond. "It's sort of like that. Send the refugee with a guide from the Resistance that speaks the language and will take them from safe house to safe house." He raised his head and absentmindedly twisted his pen in his hand. "Unfortunately, our only Italian guide got himself caught. Quite tragic actually." He shook his head. "Very bloody. You can imagine how that turned out."

Rene swallowed nervously. Yes, she could.

Sutori leaned forward in his desk and looked her in the eye. Rene held his gaze, meeting it straightforward. "Are you sure that you're up to this? It will be dangerous." he asked, raising his eyebrows doubtfully.

Rene nodded, not breaking the gaze. Determination blazed in her fiery chocolate eyes, and she didn't even notice herself raise her head slightly. Danger. Danger was bad. But there were worse things. "Yes," she said.

The man leaned back in his chair, a sly grin on his face. "Well, then," he said, "I think we should be able to work something out."

* * *

Several minutes later, the short amnesiac found herself in the middle of a long, windowed hallway with nothing but her pack and a thin blanket in her arms. The doorway to the black room closed in front of her with a loud thud that echoed for a moment before dying down. Hugging the bag and the blanket to her chest, Rene sighed, turned around, and began walking down the hallway. Mentally, she was scolding herself. "It's late," she muttered quietly, "Of course, we're not going to do anything." She felt slightly silly for thinking that she would be able to leave the country that night. Too much had to be done, guides had to be found, documents needed to be forged. It was way too much to accomplish in a single night. But regardless, she had been hoping for that very thing, and she found herself slightly disappointed that it didn't occur.

Her shadow stretched long and dark down the hallway. The light that shone in from the tall, ceiling to floor windows silhouetted her, making her outline dark against the glass. Goosebumps trailed up and down her arms again, and once again, she rubbed them, trying to put even a little bit of warmth into them. That was one thing that she was looking forward to about escaping Japan. Finally leaving behind that never ending, never relenting frigidness that followed her around everywhere she went. It would be nice, she thought, to be able to sit underneath the sun and feel its heat for once. And not just externally, but internally also. To get rid of that piercing cold running through her veins, chilling her to the core…

She sidestepped a broken statue and listened to her feet clacking along the tile. She had to admit, though, she did like the tile. So far, she could only remember walking on wood, grass, and concrete, but as weird as it was, the tile was a nice change of pace. It all had to do with the sound her shoes made as they hit the floor. There was something familiar about it that puzzled her. Something that pricked at the back of her mind, as though this were something she had done often. She snorted. It was called walking, of course she did it often. Nevertheless, she let her legs guide her down the hallway, not even paying attention to where she was going. That was fine with her. She had only been told to pick a room, but it did seem rather odd to her…

She turned her gaze to look out the tall windows on her left. It wasn't hard to see the grounds underneath the moonlight, but the darkness that accompanied it seemed to mask some of the wear and tear that the campus had suffered. The grass didn't look nearly so overgrown, and she really had to search to find the pieces of rubble. Not even the dark, ash coated brick looked suspicious in the darkness of the night. At one particular window, she had a perfect view of the clock tower a few buildings over. Rene paused in her walking to look out that window, paying closer attention to her surroundings. In its own way, it was almost beautiful. A door below her window opened, casting a small rectangle of golden light into the yard. A small group of black crows took off at that moment, and Rene watched them as they gracefully arched up the building, the line of them curving slightly. They flew up close to the window and then veered off to her right, where they continued on, disappearing in that direction. Rene watched them wistfully and then sighed. The sight would have been so much prettier if they had been doves.

She turned around again, preparing to leave, when something stopped her. At the end of the hallway, a pair of large, pink double doors stood tall and elegant. At first glance, they didn't seem any different from the rest of the doors in the hallway, but at the sight of them, something sparked inside of her. A quickening of a heart, a dropping of a stomach, a slight dizziness of the head. Rene had to place her hand against the glass window to stead herself. Her long hair fell in her face, and she tossed it away, staring at the door. It looked so ordinary. That was all it was, an ordinary door. It probably held a classroom of some kind or maybe even some storage items, but despite herself, Rene's legs guided her towards the door as though they had done so a thousand times before. As though they knew some great secret about that door that she didn't.

She stood in front of the pink wood and looked at it. A black sign in the top right corner caught her eye. "Music Room Three," she whispered, reading the sign. _At the top floor of the South building, on the end of the North Hallway…_Rene ran a hand over the wood, feeling the smooth grain underneath her fingertips. A shiver ran down her spine, but not the kind that she usually got. This one didn't originate from the constant chills that haunted her.

_Pale hands, pressing gently down on the golden handle. _

Rene blinked and looked down at her arm, which, subconsciously, she had raised and placed on the handle. She yanked her hand away as though the gold hand burned her and held it against her chest protectively. That was…odd. The brown haired girl frowned. She was being stupid. Excessively stupid. So stupid that she should be ashamed of herself. She looked up and down the hallway and back at the door. It wasn't any different from any of the other doors in the hallway. But there was still something about it. She found her hand reaching out towards the door again. Her brow furrowed. Surely…it wouldn't hurt to just look…to just take a peek.

She inhaled a deep breath through her nose, and as though daring herself, placed her hand on the door handle. Her grip tightened for a moment, and she pushed handle down. There was a small click from the mechanism, and the door cracked open, leaving a small gap. For some reason, she felt her heartbeat quicken at the sight of it. Her stomach rolled a tiny bit, and she felt her throat go dry. She couldn't understand why, but for some reason, she felt incredibly nervous about entering this room. But that made no sense. Rene pushed her hair behind her ear and stood a little straighter, trying to inspire confidence. _Don't be silly, _she thought to herself as she pushed on the door slightly. _It's just an abandoned music room. _The gap got wider, and, cautiously, Rene poked her head through and peered inside. A brilliant flash of bright color crossed her eyes, and the dark orbs widened in surprise. A gasp escaped her throat, and she threw the door open as the panic raced through her head. _No, it can't be. _The wood hit the wall, and Rene twisted her head left and right, scanning the area with her eyes. But there was nothing. A dusty old room faced her. She stood on the threshold for a moment, her hand still resting on the wood and her body still alert. She blinked confusedly. For a moment, a single second, she could have sworn that she had seen the blurry outlines of several people. People in blue…She shook her head. No…that couldn't have been possible. She sighed, relieved. "It's just an old room." But a strange sense of disappointment pricked at her, and ignoring it, she slipped fully inside and closed the door behind her, letting it fall with a small click. She dropped her bag and the blanket to the floor with a muffled thump.

It was rather large for a music room in Rene's opinion. The large pink tiled floor held enough room for several symphonies and maybe, if they sat closely together, a small audience. Large ceiling to floor windows on the north wall let ivory moonlight flow into the room and cast long, rectangular shaped patches of light onto the floor. All in all, in comparison to the rest of the castle, this room was in decent shape. There were no holes in the walls, and as far as she could see, no dark, ominous stains had set themselves in the floors or walls. There was only one shattered window, and underneath it, several shards of glass and leaves lay scattered around a long metal pole. A chandelier lay broken on the floor, its crystal decorations dripping like tear drops upon the crack floor beneath it. A few dishes lay broken around beautiful wooden furniture, but otherwise, everything seemed to be intact. Perfect. Unharmed. And for some reason, Rene felt comforted by this. There was something about the normalcy of this room and how different it was from the rest of the school. It made her feel safe somehow.

Rene walked further into the room, looking around. A small breeze blew into the room through the window, and a few leaves rattled along the ground. She ran a hand over the surface of a round wooden table, leaving behind a small trail of brown. Confused, Rene brought her hand close to her face. It scrunched up in a look of disgust. "Urgh," she muttered, wiping her hand on the cloth of her ratty dress. The whole room was covered in a layer of think, grey dust. Looking a bit closer, she could see that every surface was coated in the powdery substance, and she inwardly cringed. _It's going to take forever to clean all this up, _she thought as she bent down and blew on the table. A cloud of dust exploded in the air, and Rene leapt back, coughing into her hand. The dust cloud hung in the air for a moment before descending back down. Rene wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, wondering for a moment what she'd need to buy to straighten up the room.

At that moment, she laughed a bit. "Buy. Like I have any money to buy anything, nonetheless cleaning supplies," she scoffed quietly. _Besides, it's not my responsibility…_Rene picked up a tea cup and rolled it around in her hands, inspecting it, before placing it back on the table. She removed her hand from it slowly, letting it caress the cup slightly before removing her touch. She looked at it for a moment with soft eyes before moving on. As she did so, she frowned. There was something strange about this room. It was perfectly normal, but still…there was something different about it. Something that set it apart from normal rooms and buildings. It was even stranger than the rest of the school, which had already struck her as odd. The abandoned Third Music Room was particularly troubling, and she couldn't even understand why. It bothered her. Why did this room, with its dusty furniture and its pretty dishes and its pink walls and shattered window affect her so?

A soft object underneath her foot brought her out of her reverie. She was standing a few feet from the broken window, and she looked down, blinking in surprise. Underneath her foot, a soft, pink, fluffy object was squished, bending underneath her weight. Rene's brow furrowed as she removed her foot and bent down to pick up the object. Long, floppy ears and a thick cotton tail and black, glassy eyes with a sewn in mouth.

"Usa-chan?" Rene gasped, looking at the rabbit with wide eyes. The hands holding the stuffed rabbit tightened, creating little indents in its soft, furry stomach. The sewn in mouth smiled cutely up at her, and Rene felt her heart twang. She looked at her reflection in its glassy black eyes. She didn't care that she was a mess or that she was confused or that she had just randomly spat out some random name that she had never heard before. Instead, she focused on the strange feeling in her chest. It was an aching feeling, but it was so different from the ones she had felt in the past. Whereas those had been pure pain, this one felt a bit more bittersweet, a bit warmer. Comforting and yet painfully prodding at the same time. Not even paying attention to what she was doing, Rene brought the stuffed rabbit close to her body and hugged it tightly, squeezing the doll with all her might. Where did it come from? How long had it been there? Whose had it been? At that last question, the ache in her chest leapt to her throat, and she swallowed it down, preferring instead to smother her face in the fur.

A faint scent filled her nose, and she breathed it hesitantly for a moment and then inhaled deeply. She pulled back a bit and stared at the unresponsive rabbit. "Roses?" she said, thoroughly confused. The floral scent was barely there, bit she could still smell it as though the rabbit were stuffed with the very flora. How that was possible or why a stuffed rabbit would smell like roses, she wasn't sure, but she wasn't going to argue with it. It was pleasing in a way, and for the first time in months, she felt a smile curl around her face. Not a small smile or a polite smile, but a real one, a genuine one. One that raised her cheeks and touched her eyes.

She laughed softly. "This doesn't make any sense," she said to the empty room. It stared back at her unanswering, but that didn't matter. There was something special about these things. This room, this rabbit. The tea cups and the furniture. The entire place, actually. She couldn't begin to explain why, but for some reason, it stirred up feelings that she hadn't felt in a long, long time. Familiar feelings, things that she _knew _she'd felt at some point in her life. It was almost like… "Dreaming," she said aloud. Yes…it was almost like those moments she'd have after her dreams, the warm, almost happy seconds that lingered in her chest after waking up. It was almost like that…

Rene pulled a hand away from the rabbit. Her fingers found the front of her shirt, and she pulled on the gold chain hanging there until the vase pendant slipped out of the fabric. Her feet guided her to a dusty red couch, and she slowly sat down upon it. She brought the light blue vase close to her face and intensely focused her gaze upon it. "What are you?" she muttered quietly. "Where did you come from?" She leaned back into the seat, knowing and not caring that dust was gathering in her hair. She looked up at the ceiling, still holding the vase. "Where do I come from?" She sighed, hugging the stuffed rabbit close to her chest. She looked down into its black, glassy eyes. "You don't happen to know, do you?" she asked it playfully. It stared back at her. She snorted softly, letting her fingers slide through the soft pink fur. _Great, I'm talking to dolls now, _she scoffed silently, but for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to care. Not when it was so late, and she was so tired, and the moon looked so perfect through the shattered window, and for once she wasn't freezing, and that strange smile still graced her face. Not now…

"It's okay," she whispered, stroking the ear. "I didn't expect you to know anyways. But it won't be long now, will it?" A yawn worked its way through her mouth, and her eyelids started to fall slowly, sliding over deep brown orbs. She yawned deeply, snuggling into the warm, soft rabbit. Beneath the stale dusty scent, the smell of roses pervaded, and Rene couldn't help but breathe it in as deeply as she could as the sweet, floral scent lulled her to sleep.

* * *

The red liquid fell in a graceful arch as it dribbled through the air, falling into a tall crystal wineglass that sparkled in the light of the chandelier above it. The servant placed the heavy bottle of wine back on the tray and bowed, stepping back a few feet. Rasputin, leaning back in his seat, lazily took hold of the long stem of the glass with pale fingers and lifted it off the white clothed table. He brought it close to his face and breathed the scent in deeply before taking a small sip. He pulled it away and looked down at his reflection in the rippling liquid, watching it distort itself in the gleaming light. "So, our little kitten is going to France," he muttered quietly.

Across from him but standing with crossed arms instead of sitting, Gomon nodded tersely. "That's what our source says," he said gruffly, his face betraying all his irritation. The white haired man was silent for a moment, and Gomon rolled his eyes impatiently. He reached into his pocket and flicked his hand as quick as lightening. There was a sharp thud, and inches away from Rasputin's hand, a knife quivered upright in the grain of the table, its handle wobbling a bit in the air. Rasputin looked up from his wine glass with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't flinched a bit at the sudden attack.

"Was that really necessary?" he questioned calmly. He took hold of the knife and yanked it out of the table, flipping it over and holding it out to his partner handle first. As Gomon retrieved the weapon, he said, "If you were anybody else, you would be rotting in jail right now."

The black haired man tucked the knife back inside his pocket. "Well, aren't I incredibly fortunate," his sarcastic voice said scathingly. He snapped his fingers at the servant, who hurried forward to pour the man a glass of wine. Gomon looked at Rasputin with narrowed eyes as he pulled a chair out from underneath the table and sat down. "The main question now is," he said, taking the now filled glass from the table and drinking from it, "what to do with the brat."

Rasputin grinned, his teeth barred like fangs. "Actually, I had an idea for that." The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver cell phone. Gomon raised an eyebrow. Rasputin spoke into the phone. "Yes, bring the Tojiwaran boy down. And make it quick." He closed the phone with a snap.

* * *

Ezekiel stared up at the chandelier hanging above his bed and glared up at it. Dripping crystals hung from it, and the light reflected off of them, casting little squares of light around the bright room. He snorted. Really, what was it with these people and chandeliers? He knew that this was a western style house, but he highly doubted that the people on that side of the world were truly this obsessed with the sparkling, hanging lights. The flashiness just seemed ostentatious to him.

On the other side of the room, a short, brown haired boy was chattering away. His hair was carefully combed, and his black slacks and white button down shirt were pressed and ironed to perfection. A pair of large, circular glasses hung from his nose and made his eyes seem far larger than they actually were, giving him a slightly insect like appearance. He had a thin face, but it was soft and rounded, like the rest of him: thin and round, lacking angles. His voice was light as he rambled on. "And the flight wasn't bad at all, it was sort of nice. Although I'm surprised that they made us come in on a ship, but apparently, they're not letting any flights into the territory these days. It's supposed to be too much of a risk, which I suppose makes sense. But from an economic perspective, it's got to be catastrophic. But based on what we've seen, I don't think that's something they're particularly worried about in this place. They're probably paying more attention to that in some of their more recent acquisitions, but I wish I knew why that was the case. Old Japan might not have had many resources, but from what I've read, they were rather strong technologically, especially in the automobile and entertainment industries."

Ezekiel rolled his eyes and could feel his eyebrow twitching. "Leo," he said in an irritated voice, "shut up."

His servant stopped his rant and smiled gently before bowing. "I apologize, your Majesty. I didn't realize how irritating I was being."

Those words made the black haired teenager grit his teeth, and he shot up into a sitting position. Leo's eyes widened at the sudden action, and Ezekiel pinched the bridge of his nose and looked up at his servant with a frown. "Really," he scolded, "how many times do I have to tell you?"

A light red tinge was starting to form on Leo's cheeks. "But your M-" Ezekiel took hold of a tennis ball that had rolled out from one of his duffle bags and threw it at Leo, forcing the younger boy to duck with a yelp and interrupting what he was about to say. Leo stood up, his glasses falling off his nose. "Hey!" he protested, straightening them. "You could have hit me."

"That was the point, you baby."

Leo only grinned in response. "Who's the baby? Last time I checked, adults didn't express their frustration by throwing things at people."

Ezekiel scoffed. "You'd be surprised." His gaze zeroed in on the younger boy. "But seriously, the formality is unnecessary. We're hanging out. There's nobody else here. You don't have to address me with things like 'My lord' or 'your Majesty'. It's just annoying."

Leo turned his face to the side, averting his gaze, and his fingers found a stray string on the sleeve of his shirt. He fiddled with it. "But that's weird."

Ezekiel snorted and lay back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "What's so weird about it?" This wasn't the first time they had had this conversation. Ever since he had know Leo, they had had this argument. He didn't mind formality from other servants or inferiors. It was actually required from them. They should have to treat him like that. But for some reason, he hated it when Leo acted like that. He had known the boy since they were kids. It bothered him to hear the formality and the servility and the inferiority in the boy's voice.

"It just is!" he heard Leo say, and Ezekiel's irritation pricked. He folded his arms behind his head and groaned.

"Fine, whatever," he snapped.

At that moment, there was a loud knock on the door, and both boys turned their heads. Leo started forward to get the door, but Ezekiel waved him back down. He didn't need to get that. Leo sat down, looking a bit conflicted, and Ezekiel nodded in approval. He called towards the door, not moving from his reclined position, "Enter."

The door opened, revealing a black haired woman in a dull gray uniform. Her lined, weary face looked at the two teenagers disinterestedly, and she said in a heavy tone, "The master requires your presence, sir." She bowed slightly and stood aside, making room in the doorway for him.

Ezekiel frowned at the gesture, and he felt his lips curl. No, that was not how this was going to work. He was not going to be ordered around like some common servant. His uncle was the Emperor of the Tojiwaran Empire. "If he wishes to talk with me," he drawled, "then he may come here himself. You may tell him 'the master' that." He turned away from the servant and the door and waved his hand in dismissal.

The maid sighed. "I have been instructed to bring you to him. We have been instructed to use force if necessary."

Leo's eyes widened, and the black haired teenager sat up and looked sharply at the woman. "Force?" he demanded in confusion. His narrowed eyes widened in shock as a man dressed in a old, threadbare black suit appeared in the doorway. He had a slightly gaunt look about his face as though he had lost a great deal of weight in a short period of time, but he was still tall and thick and could probably bend him into a toothpick if he wanted to. His eyes were covered by a pair of dark sunglasses, which was odd considering the fact that he was inside, but that was the least of his concerns. What worried him most was the single shotgun the man held in his hand, which was held casually at his side.

He heard a small clatter and turned his head. Seconds later, Leo was standing in front of the bed, a panicked look on his small face. His eyes were widened behind his glasses, making them appear even bigger, and his alarmed face looked at the servants with incredulity. "Hang on!" he cried, holding his hands up, palms forward. "You can't just burst in here and make demands like that!"

The gunman sighed tiredly. "Unfortunately, we can," he said, sounding as though this were the last thing he wanted to be doing. "It would be easier for the both of us if your master would just come along calmly." The man looked at Ezekiel behind the sunglasses.

Ezekiel's fists clenched. This could not be good. He swallowed dryly and slowly rose from the bed and got to his feet. "Very well," he said, walking towards the door. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Leo start to follow, and he inhaled sharply. Quickly, Ezekiel turned around to face his servant. "You may stay here, Leo. I will be back shortly," he said in a commanding tone of voice that he hated instantly.

Leo bit his lip and clenched his fists. The look said _"After what happened in that car? No way."_

Ezekiel glared at him, trying to convey his message. "_Stay here. I'll be fine." _

They stared at each other for a few seconds, brown and hazel fixated in worried glares. Finally, Leo's shoulder's slumped. The boy sighed and raised his eyebrows at his master. _"Don't be an idiot." _

Ezekiel nodded and turned back around, ignoring the wide eyed, worried look directed towards his back. Leo meant the best, but he didn't want to expose the boy to more of those men than necessary. The memory of those pale fingers clutching his hair and slamming him against the window of the limousine flashed in his mind, and he mentally winced. He preferred to keep the younger boy far away from those hands.

He followed the maid down the hallways of the fancy house. The building wasn't too bad, he supposed, looking at the marble tiled floors and the expensive antiques that were aesthetically placed an pedestals along the walls. Of course, it was nothing compared to his home in Tojiwara, but it certainly was far different from the tall, broken buildings from the destroyed city he had been driven through. He kept his face in a stern mask of disinterest and boredom as he walked.

A few moments later, he found himself standing before an elegantly carved oak door. The maid took hold of the door knob and pulled open the door, bowing to him. He ignored her and strode in, his body erect and regal. With a slightly bored expression, he scanned the room he had just entered.

The white haired dignitary and the cloaked man from the limousine were sitting at a round table with wine glasses in their hands. Rasputin looked up from the conversation, and his face split into a sly grin. It took all of Ezekiel's effort to keep himself from shivering at the predatorily expression. Rasputin spread an arm out, gesturing for him to enter. "Ezekiel-san. Come in, come in. You are just the person we were hoping to see."

_Of course, I am. You called me, you moron. _The mental bravado calmed his nervousness a bit, and he was able to, with a lot of effort, produce something that he hoped resembled a smile. He had a feeling though that it was more of a grimace. "Thank you," he said in a strained tone as he entered the room fully. He walked towards the table, but noticed that no effort was made to draw him up a chair. Irritation pricked in his mind. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to sit down," he said in a lofty, superior tone. The two men might have a chilling effect on him, but he would not let himself be disrespected. Disowned or not, he was still royalty, and he would be treated as such.

The black haired man- Gomon?- snorted, and Rasputin raised an eyebrow, and the evil smile widened. Ezekiel could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, as though the white haired man before him was some kind of hunter out for his blood. The man leaned forward, resting his chin in a cupped palm. "Oh, do forgive me, my boy, but this will only take a few moments." Ezekiel's eye twitched. _My boy…_ "I have a proposition for you."

Ezekiel raised his elegant eyebrows. A proposition? He crossed his arms and leaned back on the back of his heels in a mildly interested pose. "And what kind of proposition would that be?" he asked, his chin rising a bit.

Gomon lifted a manila folder from the table and with a sneer, handed it out to him. Ezekiel looked at it suspiciously before stepping forward. His tan hand took hold of the folder, and barely able to hide his interest, he opened it. The covers spread to reveal several papers and a long, golden key. The object that caught his attention however, was a photograph in the middle of it all. It looked like a typical school portrait with a girl in a dark blue sailor uniform. Long, brown hair stretched past her shoulders, and a set of carefully cut bangs framed a pair of large, dark brown eyes. The sheer size of them struck him as odd. Leo's glasses gave him the appearance of large eyes, but in actuality they were not really so big. He had never seen such large eyes. A gentle smile accompanied them.

As he examined the photograph and the contents of the folder. Rasputin was speaking in a lofty, deceivingly careless tone. "As you are well aware, your reappointment and acceptance in the Tojiwaran royal family depends heavily on my reports of you. You cannot be reinstated unless I deem it so."

Ezekiel looked up from the folder with grit teeth. "What does that have to do with this?" he bit out, losing all semblance of politeness with the mention of his disownment. But there was an eagerness in his voice that he couldn't hide. To be back home, to have his titles back, his land, his birthright, his honor…Could the slimy dictator be saying what he thought he was saying?

Rasputin barred all his teeth in his grin and steeped his fingers in anticipation. "There is an easy way to take care of this. A way that could make this process so much quicker for the both of us. All you have to do with complete one little task for me." There was a strange glint in the man's eyes, and Ezekiel felt his stomach start to churn furiously.

"And what," he asked quietly, "would this task be?" His grip on the folder tightened. _Please don't let it be what I think it is. Please. _His mouth started to grow dry, and his heartbeat was quickening.

The white haired man nodded towards the folder. His obsidian eyes were as cold as ice, and they seemed to pierce right through him. His voice was quiet as he said as though he were talking about the weather. "Kill her."

* * *

Hunny dreamed that red rose petals were cascading down all around him, drifting slowly through the air. A soft breeze tugged at his hair and clothing, making them wave gently in the air. He was standing in the middle of a dark expanse, and every way he looked, all he could see was an inky blackness. And the rose petals. They stood out bright against the darkness, scarlet against the black. The petals descended softly upon him like a sprinkling rain, their silky surfaces brushing against his skin. They gathered on the ground, forming a sort of carpet of flowers. Hunny turned his gaze upwards. _Where are they coming from? _he wondered. They just seemed to tumble out of the darkness…He stood there for a few moments, admiring the mystery and beauty of the place. The silence stretched all around him, and he breathed in deeply, inhaling the floral scent of the empty void. He closed his eyes. It was so peaceful.

Suddenly, there was a small padding sound behind him. Hunny froze and his eyes snapped open. The sound had been soft , and he probably wouldn't have heard it if it weren't for the awareness born from his martial arts training, but it was definitely there. Suddenly, the area didn't seem as peaceful anymore. A sense of alarm sparked within his brain, and when he heard it again, with his heart pounding in his chest, he spun around, kicking up a few of the petals on the ground. At the sight before him, however, the suspicious look on his face vanished. No way_…_His mouth dropped open, and his eyes widened to the size of saucers. It couldn't be. There was no way she could be…that this was…He swallowed dryly, trying to make his voice work.

The source of the padding sound stood in front of him. A thin, boyish figure was standing in the carpet of flowers, but despite its figure, it most certainly was not a boy. Huge, bright brown eyes sparkled underneath a thin layer of messy bangs, and long, brown hair waved in the air with the wind, twisting and dancing in its flight. The girl wore a white, spaghetti strapped dress, the only other source of color in the vast expanse of flowers, and slowly, oh so slowly, she was walking towards him. Her bare feet stirred up to flowers, which lazily fell back to the ground like feathers. Hunny couldn't take his eyes off her. The same pale skin, the brown eyes…The girl smiled a dazzling smile, and Hunny's throat choked. How long he had prayed to see that smile again…"Ha-Haru-" he choked out, but his voice wouldn't allow him to say anything else. A huge lump had clogged it, making it hard to breathe, let alone speak.

She walked right up to him, and he had to tilt his head up a bit to see her properly. He longed to throw his arms around her, to hug her tight and never let go, but for some reason, he couldn't move. It was as though his entire body had gone in shock at the sight of his absent friend. He could smell her, that same rosemary scent that she had always had. With a pang in his chest, he realized that he had forgotten about that.

He missed her.

A hand reached out and ruffled his hair a bit, but her eyes never left his. Hunny absentmindedly noticed that the wind had picked up in speed and force. It was blowling around viciously, and the rose petals were flying everywhere in its hard gale. The girl's hair no longer waved gently but was instead tossed around her head, and her dress flapped against her form. Hunny could feel his own hair and clothing being pulled around, but he pay attention to any of that. He focused on the girl in front of him. She leaned down a bit and opened her mouth to say something. Her hair blew forward into his face, and Hunny had to strain his ears to hear her. She whispered something in his ear and drew back.

Hunny looked up at her in alarm. "What do you mean?" he demanded, having to raise his childish voice to hear it over the wind. The girl smiled at him and took a step backwards. The action made Hunny inhale in alarm. A sickening feeling filled his stomach as though he had been punched in the gut. _No. _The girl turned around and started to walk away from him. Every step sent aching pangs in his chest, and he forced himself to move forward. _Nonononono. _She couldn't leave him. Not again. He couldn't let it happen again. He wouldn't lose her again. His running footsteps kicked flowers into the air, but this time, the didn't fall back. Instead the wind took them up in its gust. He had to fight his way through the wind and shove against it. It whipped at his face and stung his eyes. The girl, however, seemed to be unaffected. Hunny grit his teeth and pushed against it with all the force he could muster. He wouldn't lose her. In a few steps, he caught up with her, reached out his hand, and seized her elbow. She turned towards him, eyes wide and surprised.

Hunny braced himself against the wind. "What does that mean?" he shouted over the wind that swirled around them. "Where are you going?"

Her gaze softened, and she smiled at him. She tugged her arm, but he tightened his grip. "Stop!" he yelled, his voice frantic. His face twisted in an expression of urgency, alarm, and fear. "You can't leave," he whispered, and at that moment, the wind picked up in intensity. It surged like a hurricane, and he felt his grip rip away from the girl's. The gust forced him away, making him tumble against the ground. He landed on his stomach on the ground, and he looked up. All the rose petals had been lifted off the ground and were now zooming everywhere, particularly around the girl. A few feet away, she stood straight and tall, watching him. The roses and the wind whirled about her, and her clothing and hair whipped back in forth. The petals seemed to congregate around her, swirling around her in a tornado of red. Hunny's mouth dropped open in horror, and he yelled, but the roar of the wind drowned him out. He watched airborne river of red circle around her, spiraling and obscuring her from view. _No. _She smiled at him. _No. _He couldn't see her any more. _No. _The tornado sped up, going faster and faster. _No. _He tried to push himself up, but the wind forced him back down, slamming his chin into the black floor. _No. _The wind was starting to lose it's force. _No. _The flower petals were starting to fall, and he couldn't see her. _No. _They separated and tumbled down softly. _No. _She was gone. "No!" The wind had vanished, and the petals were on the ground again, the carpet recreated. From his position on the floor, Hunny shook his head in disbelief. The flowers had taken her away, and she was gone. Gone, gone, gone, gone.

Hunny propped himself on all fours and hit the ground in frustration. The tears had escaped now and were running down his face, liquid crystals dripping off his chin and onto the ground. A few fell onto the petals beneath him and stained them a darker shade of red. Hunny looked at them for a few seconds, and then a wave of anger ran over him. Those flowers…had stolen her away from him. Taken her away again. An cold, enraged glare took over Hunny's face, and with an angry "AHHHH!", he quickly and fiercely swept his arm across the floor, scattering the offending petals. Breathing heavily, he stared at them uncomprehendingly. And in his mind, he heard her voice again, the words she had whispered before she had disappeared. Hunny clung to them. They weren't much, but they were his only clue, the only things had had to go on. And he would be damned if he lost them too.

"_Come and find me."_

_

* * *

_

Hunny awoke with a gasp and shot into a sitting position, his heart thudding rapidly against his chest. He took in deep, gasping breaths, the remnants of the dream still floating before his eyes. He pressed his fingers against his eyes, pushing a bit until multicolored sparks erupted behind his lids. At that point, he pulled them away and opened his eyes.

The hosts had retreated back into their own rooms for the night, so he was alont again in the room that Renge had given him. Hunny slid out of bed, his feet silently hitting the floor, and padded over to the desk to the left of his bed, He opened a drawer in the desk, and with the help of the moonlight drifing in from the large ceiling to floor window to the right of his bed, he could a flashlight. A small finger pushed the button, and a round beam of light illuminated the papers and documents on the desk.

Hunny peered closer at the paper, tired eyes roving over them. The documents stared back at him unanswering. A book on Tojiwaran history, Ootori records on Rasputin, articles from and about the invasion, list of names, pictures of the Fujioka family and their friends, a textbook on the German occupations of France and Poland. He had even gotten a hold of a few military documents thanks to his connections with the United States military, but they all added up to the same thing. Nothing. Or at least nothing that Kyouya hadn't found already. Nothing they didn't already know. In short, nothing useful.

Hunny sighed and absentmindedly flipped a page over in the French Occupation book. He thought about the dream he had just had. The darkness, the roses, the girl. _Haruhi. _Hunny ran a hand through his hair. How in the world could he come and find her if there was nothing to be found? Nothing to go on? Nothing to imply or give any inclination that Haruhi was anything but…

"Dead," Hunny whispered, finishing his own thought. He tiredly pulled out the leather rolling chair and plopped down into it, resting his head on his crossed arms. He sat there for a few seconds and he lightly pushed a pencil with his index finger and watched it roll. The flashlight, which he had placed on the table, cast his shadow upon the wall.

Why couldn't he let this go? This overwhelming, obsessive feeling. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't escape it, couldn't make it leave. It was all he could think of that last two days, all he could focus on. A frame rested on the back corner of the desk, and Hunny reached out and took hold of it. He dragged his arm across the table and propped himself up on his elbow, cupping his face. He looked down at the photograph within the frame. A small smile curled on his face.

The rest of the Ouran High School Host Club stared back at him. It was from the night of the Ouran Festival, the night that they had almost lost everything. It had been taken towards the end of the night, and fireworks still exploded behind them, illuminating the night. Tamaki stood in the middle, his expensive white suit still somewhat wet and water-logged. His hair fluffed around his head, slightly messy from diving into the water. A careless arm was thrown over Kyouya's purple clad shoulders. The black haired boy's cheek was still slightly swollen from his father's blow earlier in the festival, but there was a genuine smile upon his face, and Hunny could see the relief in his eyes as though he had lost everything and fought for it and won. The twins stood in front of the two second years, their eyes closed in mischievous grins. Kaoru held up two fingers in a victory sign, flaunting their triumph that night. Hikaru still had his arm in a sling, but he was happy too, and Hunny could tell that the younger red head was about to burst out in laughter. It had been awhile since he had seen his friend so happy. Mori stood to the side and slightly behind Tamaki. A rare smile was on his face too, and his eyes sparkled through the camera, overjoyed in his own way. With one hand, he held onto Hunny's arm, keeping him from toppling over his shoulders, and with the other, he gripped Tamaki's shoulder as though to ensure himself that the tall blonde was there. Hunny smiled softly to himself. Takashi was always so protective.

He barely gave his photographed self a glance. He was just hanging on to Takashi's shoulders as usual. No, his gaze was drawn to the brown haired girl, the one at the center of it all. His stomach flipped a bit looking at her. She looked even prettier than usual despite the water stained, rumpled dress. A tiny bit of makeup stained her face from the water. Hikaru and Kaoru had tried to fix it before the dance, but she had fought them off, not caring one bit that her makeup was running. It hadn't lessened her appearance anyways. Her smile seemed to ignite the page, it was so warm. The twins had their arms wrapped around her waist, and Kyouya's arm rested on her head like an arm rest, but she seemed to radiate happiness. Triumph and relief had made her giddy, and the picture had been taken at the moment the girl was in mid-laugh, her mouth open and eyes squeezed shut in mirth.

Hunny ran a finger over her face. He noticed her short hair, which had dried much more quickly than Tamaki's had. It framed her face, brushing gracefully across her forehead. That was one the twins wouldn't let her get away with. It had taken a lot of effort for Hikaru to hold her down on the limo ride back to the school so that Kaoru could forcefully blow dry and straighten her hair. Hunny smiled at the memory, and the image of his dream floated through his mind. _I wonder how long her hair has gotten, _Hunny wondered distractedly before he froze. He looked at the photograph Haruhi for a moment and mentally hit himself.

"You're dead." he whispered to the picture. The hands holding the frame started shaking, making the picture rattle. Brown eyes looked at him. Hunny bit his lip and felt pricks in his eyes. "Why can't you leave me alone?" he hissed. "If you had to leave then why didn't you just leave?" Haunting him. She was _haunting _him. The frame fell from his quivering hands onto the table with a clatter. Hunny collapsed in his seat, falling back into the leather back and sinking down into a slouch. He sent a frustrated glare up a the ceiling. _Why can't I let this go? _he though frustrated. It was bad enough that she was gone…

_As far as you know, _a small part of him whispered. Hunny sat up again and scooted closer to the desk. He lifted the flashlight and shone it over the documents. There was nothing to indicate that she was alive, but at the same time, nothing said that she wasn't. All they had to go on was Ranka's word, and he could have made a mistake, jumped to conclusions, anything. Or maybe there was something that he hadn't been aware of. He saw her body, but he didn't see her die. He bent his head over the documents. How did they kill the hospital victims? Where did they take them? How much time passed between their arrival and their deaths? Did they arrive there live or dead? Who murdered them? Were there records of this? Did they keep a list of the dead? Were there escapees? And if there were, how could they have done so? And was there a chance that maybe a scholarship student and the smartest girl he had ever known had found the way out?

There was a small creaking sound, and Hunny lifted his head in surprise. He swung the flashlight around to focus it in the direction of the sound, which happened to be the door to the bedroom. Peering through the small crack of the slightly opened doors were two pairs of olive green eyes. The eyes blinked sharply against the light, and a weary, irritated voice drifted towards him. "Jeez, sempai, shine that somewhere else, will you?"

Hunny clicked off the flashlight, casting the room into darkness. "Sorry, Hika-chan, Kao-chan." His eyes weren't used to the darkness, and he couldn't see the twins slink into his room, even though he could hear them. Their feet shuffled against the carpet, and there was a thud as Kaoru cried out "Ah!" Hunny snapped the light back on and whirled it around and held it out like a sword towards the direction of his cry. The red haired teenager was standing near the dresser, hopping up and down on one leg as he held his foot.

"That. Flipping. Hurt," Kaoru growled, and his twin sighed.

"You're such a klutz," Hikaru muttered, shaking his head, and he took his brother by the shoulders and began to guide him to the giant four poster bed.

Hunny, whose eyes had adjusted to the lack of light, flicked off the flashlight and padded over to the arm chair by the bed. He specifically avoided his desk, preferring to keep his research efforts to himself. The last thing he needed was the club to find out about his doubts. He inwardly winced for a moment. There was no way that that could end well.

He directed his attention to the twins on his bed. They sat at the edge of it, gripping each other's hands. Their eyes wouldn't meet his gaze, instead taking a particular interest in the ground or the pattern on the handmade quilt. Hunny bit his lip. It was hard to believe that they were the same laughing people that he had just seen in the picture. Instead of mirth and triumph, their expressions were heavy and sagging. He noticed for the first time just how pale they had become. Their skin had turned a pallid, sickly color, which only made the purple bags underneath their puffy eyes stand out. A red tinge covered the whites of their eyes, and he could tell that they had been crying. They sort of leaned up against each other, as though they were deathly tired and the effort of holding themselves straight was just too much to bear. Their hair hung limply upon their heads, and it looked like they hadn't washed it in a few days. They would never had let that happen a few months ago.

After a few moments of awkward, heavy silence, Hunny broke the silence. "Hika-chan? Kao-chan? Why are you still up?"

Hikaru flinched at the sudden shattering of the silence, and Kaoru squeezed his brother's hand tighter. Hikaru gripped it just as tightly, and Hunny could see that both of their knuckles were starting to turn white. Kaoru swallowed and forced himself to look up at Hunny. The first year's eyes were still glistening with tears when he muttered quietly, "We couldn't sleep."

"And there was a light from the crack underneath your doorway…" Hikaru added, biting his lip.

Hunny nodded wearily and leaned against the back of the arm chair. His head hit the comfortable fabric and slid down, ruffling him his hair and he slouched. He folded his hands on his chest and looked at the sky out the window. "I couldn't sleep either." He turned his gaze back to the twins on the bed, who sat there awkwardly clutching each other. Somewhere within the house, he knew that the rest of the hosts were having the same problems. Insomnia, nightmares. They had been terrible when they'd thought that Haruhi was alive, but now that she was gone (_supposedly_), they had gotten much much worse. The last three nights had been awful on all of them.

Surely one more night wouldn't hurt…

Hunny slid off the armchair, making the twins look up sharply. They watched him pad over to the desk and pick up the abandoned flashlight before turning it on again. He turn back to them. "Well, come on," he said, and hearing their feet fall to the floor by his bed, he opened the door to his room. The dark hallway was slightly illuminated by the bright city outside the windows, but Hunny kept the flashlight on anyways as he led the way. Behind him, he heard another door opening and another, and five sets of footsteps were following him down the hallway. _So much for trying to sleep in separate rooms, _Hunny thought, but the thought didn't bother him so much. Despite the awkwardness, it was much easier when they all slept together. Maybe it would be easier to just ask Renge if they could move some extra beds into Tama-chan's room or something. _Just until Haru-chan comes back._


End file.
